Champion of Zero
by Diabolic Tracer
Summary: Only a small group of people are aware of the darker side of Duel Monsters, the dark magic surrounding the game. What will happen when someone who had made it his duty to learn and control that dark power is suddenly summoned in the universe of Familiar of Zero?
1. A Different Type of Duel

**So, a few years back when I was still a novice writter on this site, while looking through stories about some of my favorite animes/video games (that aren't YGO btw) I came across some interesting crossover stories between these animes/video games and Familiar of Zero. I didn't initially know much about Familiar of Zero, but after reading those crossovers I got interested and choose to check it out. After watching it I wanted to make a crossover too, but back then I didn't have a lot of confidence in my writing skills. But now, two years after reading those crossovers and getting my first exposure to Familiar of Zero, I'm confident enough to write this down!**

**Before starting however, I should warn you for a few things. First this will feature an OC as the representative of the YGO universe. Reason for that is the fact that YGO doesn't exactly have characters that have the type of personality I like, while asl onot being villains trying to destroy the world.**

**Second, the YGO elements (the monsters) won't be used the way one would expect them to be used. The reason for that will be explained in later chapters, as I already have a "system" planned.**

* * *

It was summer, which meant that there was no school, which meant that most kids were on vacations, at the beach, or just fooling around town with friends. There were of course exception to that and one of those exceptions was Evan Greyson. The sixteen years old boy was sitting in the library of his mansion reading through the rich collection of books about magic, mythical creatures and unnatural phenomenons. Why was he doing that instead of spending a day outside? Simple, really. It was because of Duel Monsters. To the common people that was just a card game, a way to have fun, and often a way to end conflicts. It wasn't once that staff and even directors of multi-millionaire companies getting replaced after losing a duel, things have even gone as far as certain cities placing new rules according to which people had to own a Duel Disk in order to gain citizenship.

Of course that was, just what the common people knew about Duel Monsters. Those who had more experience on the darker side and who had researched it deeply would tell you that Duel Monsters was more than just a game. Having started as part of Ancient Egypt's dark magic, this particular card game has been used by people desiring to destroy the world multiple times. Sometimes it would be a cult using dark magic, other times it would be a mad scientist developing a device that allows for the militarization of Duel Monsters, and sometimes it would be creatures from other worlds invading. And in the center of all that was a seemingly normal card game. Go figure.

Things had gone so far that the world just needed someone knowing enough about those incidents to be able to prevent future ones from occurring. And that was where Evan's research came into play. Magic, demonic creatures, he made it his mission to learn all about the magical aspect of Duel Monsters as well as finding ways to battle against it. Not for humanity of course, no humans could burn in the flames of hell for all he cared. The boy had a higher, more selfish purpose – controlling the dark magic. By fighting and learning more about it, he was slowly becoming capable of controlling it, even the spirits of the monsters were now looking at the boy in fear and obedience.

The boy sighed and put the fourth book to the side, making a small tower of old books on the old wooden table that he sat at. He leaned back and stretched out. His body was starting to get stiff from sitting at once place so long. There was no clock in the old library, but if Evan had to guess, he would say that the last six or so hours were spent reading old books, some of which were also encrypted, so he had to decrypt them first. The boy stood up from his wooden chair and grabbed the books to return them to their shelves before calling it a day. After finishing he would go upstairs where hopefully his sister would have made something for dinner. The boy didn't know when he would get to read from these books again, he had a busy life, friends that counted on him, opportunities like this one came rare for him.

"_My servant that exist somewhere in this universe!"_

Just as the boy has placed the last book on its place a high pitched voice began to speak out of nowhere. Evan stepped back and looked around. The voice wasn't one that he was familiar with and the possibility of someone to have stuck into his mansion and find this library was near zero percent, so…

"_My divine, beautiful, and powerful familiar! I wish and assert from the bottom of my heart… Answer my guidance!"_

Oh, he knew what that was. It wasn't one of the spells that he read about in his books but it definitely sounded like a summoning spell. But if he heard it without anyone else being there did that mean…

"Ah shit." was the only thing that Evan managed to say before everything around him faded into darkness.

* * *

When Evan opened his eyelids once more, he had to quickly cover his face with a hand due to the bright daylight that greeted him So much about having dinner and going to sleep he thought. But there was also something else that the boy noticed. Someone was standing over him, he moved his hand to the side to get a better look at the individual, it was a girl with pink hair and she was dressed like a witch of something. Was she the one whose voice he heard? She appeared disappointed though.

The girl opened her mouth and began to talk, a language that Evan didn't completely understand. It was French, he knew that much, and he could make out a few of her words, even the question 'Who are you?' but sadly he couldn't respond. A paradox that Evan found himself into every time that he tried to learn a language was that he could learn to understand it, but not how to speak it.

"Where are you from, #####?" Evan stared blankly at the girl that kept asking him questions he couldn't answer. He didn't know what the last world in her sentence was, but it was good that she asked him basic questions for the most part so he didn't feel completely dumb.

Not bothering with this anymore, the boy stood up and looked around. For the first time he noticed that there were other people there as well. All of them were wearing magician robes, so either everyone was cosplaying as the same thing, or he was sent somewhere where this type of clothing was normal. Suddenly a red haired girl came forward and began to speak to the pink haired one that was standing next to him. Again, he couldn't make out everything they said, but he understood the words 'summon' and made out most of what the pink haired girl said in response: 'I ######### small mistake!'

Evan narrowed his eyes. Going off by the small amount of details that he had, it appears that his summoning to this place was a mistake, good to know, but he didn't believe that they would allow him to just leave. The other people began to laugh and the pink haired girl seemed outraged, so they must be laughing at her. Ignoring that for a moment, Evan looked around, the place that he got summoned to, was covered in green grass and appeared to be some sort of outpost.

The pink haired girl called out a bald man with glasses who looked like a teacher or something. From what Evan could understand she wanted to try summon again, but the teacher said something about a ritual and about getting expelled. The girl didn't seem happy about it, something that Evan shared in common with her. She then turned toward him and spoke something again. This time he was able to get her name, Louise Francoise Le Blanc de La Valliere. She then closed her eyes and leaned toward him chanting something before she suddenly reached out to kiss him…

For the first time in a while Evan's lips moved to form a smile. The reason for that? Because the girl trying to kiss him was too short to reach him. A blush spread over her face and she raised on her toes next, finally reaching a level on which their lips could met,

"How about no." …only for Evan to deny her move by moving one of his hands in-between them.

A move that wasn't very liked by the girl who began to yell and hit him with her magic wand. Normally, a guy would wince or yelp in pain, but Evan simply stared at her blankly, not having feel any pain from her strike. Was she that weak? Maybe he shouldn't be surprised given how short her statue was. Of course the girl then began to yell again after her failed attempt to use violence.

"Kneel, kneel!" She yelled at him once again while everyone else kept laughing at the scene.

Evan frowned. Kneeling in front of a brat like her? Sadly, he was a person with pride, he never knelt in front of others; if anything other people should kneel before him. But he wasn't a fool either. He could read a situation, after getting transported to another world and all, he would have to cooperate if he wanted to ever go back home. Since the girl was trying to kiss him – for reasons beyond his knowledge – and he was sure as hell not going to kneel in front of her, he had to improvise. Reaching out with both arms, he grabbed the girl by the waist, making her blush again immediately. Louise opened her mouth to retort, but before she could be given the chance he lifted her up and placed a kiss on her lips instead.

Surprisingly she didn't trash around at the sudden sexual assault. Maybe she was too shocked to fight back? None of that really mattered as after a moment Evan let go of the kiss and put her back down. The girl stared at him with a huge blush on her face and the teacher said something about a contract having ended peacefully. Sighing, Evan turned around to leave this weird place.

"Ngh!" He froze in his steps. Suddenly his body temperature rose to a feverish level, his entire being feeling like it was on fire. He growled in pain, feeling something burn into the flesh on his left hand, but he couldn't tell what it was due to his glove covering it up. Evan mentally cursed himself for his naïve move. There was a reason why the girl tried to kiss him out of nowhere, he had to know that things were going to end the way they did, but he was too arrogant and kissed her despite that. The pain wasn't stopping he felt it flowing through his veins, his legs gave up and he collapsed in the grass.

His vision faded to black once again.

* * *

By the time that Evan came to, again, he found himself lying on a pile of hay. At first he thought that the people must have thrown him somewhere after he collapsed, but then he noticed his surroundings. He wasn't just somewhere. He was inside a room, with a bed, a table and everything else that someone would need. Why they would put him on top of a pile of hay instead of the bed was beyond him, but he had more pressing issue to worry about.

"I should really stop blacking out like this." Seriously, blacking out when he got transported, then when he kissed a girl, it was starting to get embarrassing.

"### You've ##### woken up."

Evan blinked a few times and then turned toward the pink haired girl, Louise, who was standing above him once again with an annoyed expression on her face. She walked past him and kept talking, something about her giving up and him being her… familiar? Not that it matter much now. Evan had always believed of the idea that the strong shoulder rule the weak, that equality and human rights were a stupid and needless distraction, heck someone could call him a 'Slavery apologist' and even though it was obvious that in this relationship the girl had no power over him, if she did, she wouldn't have gotten so angry with him earlier that day, he was going to play along. After all, he was a familiar, and he still completely believed in the idea of one group controlling another. Of course he wasn't going to just bow to the girl, but he was willing to humor her until he figured out a way to get back home.

But what the girl did next left him a bit confused. After going to her wardrobe, Louise began to take off her clothes. Was she trying to seduce him? Thinking back, the girl kissed him on the lips earlier, well, technically he kissed her but she was the one who tried to do it first. And now she was stripping in front of him. Despite the lewd display, the boy didn't appear fazed in the sightless. Why would he? Her figure was so undeveloped that only a pedophile would fall for it. Seriously, short stature, non-existing chest, small ass, she had nothing that a man would want out of a woman's body.

After getting her clothes off, Louise threw them at Evan who caught them before they could hit him face first. Narrowing his eyes, he put the aside and glanced at the girl in front of him.

"Wash those." He understood her order, but he wasn't a manservant or a slave. She would have to do her laundry herself.

The girl groaned and grabbed her wand. She pointed it at him and began to cast a spell, one that Evan was sure wouldn't end up good for him, but there was nowhere to hide anyways. Plus, there was no way that the little brat would try to kill him, after all, he was her familiar now.

Or so he thought. But he was quickly proved wrong once the girl finished her spell and an explosion threw him back against the wall, knocking the air out of his lungs. He gasped for air and collapsed on the ground while starting at the girl, who looked back at him in surprise. Was the bitch surprised that he survived her attempt to murder him!?

"Are you listening?" The girl asked him. He understood her again, but this time it was different from before. She was talking English this time!

"Why were you talking in French until now if you knew English?" Evan hissed at the girl.

"English? French?" Louise tilted her head to the side. "What are you talking about? I tried to cast a spell that would make you obey orders, but it seems that I failed. Again."

She failed to cast a spell? And with what she said earlier about a small mistake… She wasn't very good at casting spells. Evan sighed and stood up, at least he knew that she wouldn't be able to successfully cast a spell on him, but that meant that he could accidentally cast something lethal, so he shouldn't get his guard down while around that brat. But looking at the positives, at least now they could understand each other, which meant that he could finally ask someone about what was happening, where he was, why she summoned him out of all… Wait he already knew the last one, it was by mistake.

"At least now I know that you can talk." Louise sighed and sat down on her bed. "When we first took a look at you I thought that you are one of those block suckers. Actually, I read that they can talk as well…"

"I'm not a vampire." Evan quickly corrected her. Of course he could understand where the mistake came from, even in his world he had a strange psychical appearance. His skin was always pale, his mouth filled with sharp teeth and his eyes glowing in a crimson color.

"So you are just an ugly looking peasant?" Evan narrowed his eyes, the word 'ugly' seemed to extreme. Yes, he had the appearance that people would usually connect to vampires, but that didn't mean he was ugly. Last he checked, girls loved vampires.

"Where am I anyway?" Evan asked, wanting to change the topic to something more important. "I get that I'm your familiar, but I would need some more context."

Surprisingly, Louise nodded in understanding and began to explain everything to him. Apparently he was in the kingdom of Tristein in the continent of Halkeginia, both of which were places that he had never heard off before. But even that wasn't enough to shock him. He had read in several books about the existence of different dimensions and that some of them could be completely different from the one he lived in.

"So, I'll be stuck with you for a while, won't I?" Evan asked.

"I won't allow a familiar to call me 'you'." Louise quickly corrected her 'familiar'. "My name is Louise. Louise Francoise-"

"…Le Blanc de La Valliere." Evan interrupted her nonchalantly. "I already got your name, but I'm going to use it only when I feel like it."

This time Louise didn't even yell at her servant's disobedience. She just sighed in disappointment and hung her head. He had already made her angry so many times in one day that she was starting to give up, Evan was just going to be another failure that would haunt her for the rest of her life, nothing she wasn't used to.

"Why is my familiar a disobedient peasant boy?" groaned Louise while closing her eyes. "I wanted something cool like a dragon of a griffin."

Evan raised an eyebrow at that. Dragons and griffins existed in that world? Well, since she wanted one so badly maybe he could use his Duel Disk to show her one and-! A realization suddenly hit the Greyson in the face like a train. His Duel Disk wasn't with him because it wasn't on him when he got transported. Of course he still had his deck which was attached to his Wrist Dealer that was on his left arm and talking about it… The boy removed his glove and saw that there were runes written on his hand. He couldn't read them, but if there were runes, then they must have had some sort of magical effect.

"I'll go take a look around." Evan told his 'master' and turned to leave the room.

"Hey, a familiar isn't supposed to leave its master's side!" Louise shouted after him.

In response Evan flipped the bird at her and left, leaving the girl confused about what that gesture was supposed to mean. He was sure that the girl would try to chase him, but given her lack of magical capabilities he knew that there was nothing he had to worry about at that moment and headed down to the stairs to the lower levels of the castle.

"I'm good at baking soufflés." Evan paused and looked at his right where girl was talking with a blond guy.

"I would love to try one." And of course the guy was trying to hit on her.

"Really?!"

"Of course Ketty. I wouldn't lie to your eyes."

"Lord Guiche!" What the? Evan could basically see hears popping out of her head!

The otherworldly boy shook his head and looked around. There was just a window on his left side, so he would have to get past them if we wanted to get anywhere, but Evan wanted to check out something before continuing. He moved in front of the window and looked at the reflection.

Albeit not much was visible, he could tell that his appearance hasn't changed due to the transportation. He still had white hair with red edges and five bangs on the right side of my face, three of which swept upward and to the right side of his head while the other two at the left. His outfit was still the one he wore back at his world, consisting of a black leather jacket that reached down to his knees with two red lines running down the side of his sleeves and two sinister red eyes were drawn on its pockets. There was also white platting on the shoulders, upper chest and the back of the jacket. Underneath it he wore a red shirt with black tiger stripes, black pants with white platting on the knees and outer thighs, and black and purple sneakers.

"Hmm, isn't that the peasant that Louise summoned?" Ah, it appeared that they spotted him.

"In today's ritual?" the girl that was with the blond guy asked. "It caused quite a stir among the first year students as well."

'_No shit, it did!_' Evan thought to himself but didn't bother saying anything. Not yet.

"He fainted suddenly and stopped moving, so it was quite troublesome for us." The blond guy, Guiche, added.

"Well, from what I heard it was a failure that summoned me here, so there wasn't much I could do." Evan retorted. He didn't want people, even if they were complete strangers, to think that he caused the trouble when in reality it was his incompetent 'master' that caused it.

"I'm not a failure!"

"You showed up faster than I expected." Evan turned back to face his 'master' who, from the look of it, was as pissed off as she was out of breath from running.

"O-Of course…" Louise tried to talk while catching her breath. "Y-you think I-I would… let my servant ru-run away?"

"The familiar with whom you sealed a contract tried to escape?" Guiche said surprised. "Nothing else from your familiar, Louise. Common sense doesn't apply to it."

"Except that it does." Evan interrupted. "I told you that I'll go take a look around and you still came chasing after me. Trust issues I presume?"

"A servant is supposed to stay by their master's side, not wander around on their own accord in the middle of the night!" Louise shouted back.

She had a point, Evan was going to give her that. If someone lets their familiar run around and said familiar does something, all of the guilt would fall on the master who was unable to control their familiar. Although Louise didn't seem smart enough to realize that, Evan was going to show a basic level of respect to the master-familiar system and listen to Louise for once.

"Fine, you made your case clear, I'll listen to you, be thankful for that." He was going to follow Louise's instructions for the time being.

"Thankful?! Listening to your master should come by default!" And as Louise went onto another rant about how disobedient her servant was, Evan simply closed his eyes and walked back toward their room. Hopefully his so called master would realize how much of a scene she was causing with her screaming and shut up.

Once they went back Louise began to strip again, ordering Evan to wash her clothes again. An irritation that the boy quickly dealt with by giving the little brat a karate chop to the head. After that failure she threatened to put a chain on him and keep him like a dog until he learns how to obey orders. Another karate chop caused her to stop pursuing the subject. In the end, even if she was the one who summoned him there, Louise had to realize that she wasn't the one with the authority in this relationship.

* * *

When morning came, Louise was the first one to get up. The girl sat up in her bed and looked around her room, Evan sitting on one of the chairs in the room, sleeping. Although he had enough respect for the little failure of a mage to not usurp her bed, there was no way that he would accept sleeping on a pile of hay like some sort of animal. Louise sighed and got up to look for a spare set of clothes, only no notice her outfit from yesterday lying at the end of the bed, washed and folded. The girl looked at Evan, then back at her clothes, then back at him.

"Ngh." Just then Evan's body began to move and his eyelids opened, crimson eyes staring at the girl in front of him.

The two of them stood there in silence, their eyes locked into a fierce battle of who had the more threatening glare. Of course it was already obvious to both parties which one of them held the power, but Evan had to admire the girl for still trying to act like she had something over him. Even without magic powers, he was still more than a match for someone who didn't even know how to use their abilities property. And even if she was a powerful magician, he was still going to find a way to overpower her using his brain.

"You're having classes today, don't you?" Evan finally asked, surprising his master.

"Not today, no." Louise replied before crossing her arms. "But do you expect me to walk outside wearing my nightglow? Dress me."

Evan's eyes narrowed in annoyance. Why were midgets so annoying? It was his fault for washing her clothes like she had required, he made her think that he was going to obey her just because of the good of his heart. Bullshit!

"You know what? I'll like to see you walking around the building wearing only your current clothes." Evan rubbed his chin and grinned at the idea. "I'm sure it will make you look more attractive for the boys. Sadly, chances are that only those who are into molesting little kids would get interested."

"You-" Louise gritted her teeth. She looked for her wand, even though her spell would most likely fail, an explosion to the face would show Evan who was the master. Only problem with her plan was, "Where's my wand?"

"You mean this?" Evan pulled the magical item out of his jacket and showed it to her. "How does it work? Do you have to wave it and shout 'Abracadabra!' or?"

"Give it back!" Louise ordered him. "That's mine!"

"It is?" Evan asked, and looked at the wand. "Hmm, I don't see your name anywhere on it."

"Stop joking!" but Louise wasn't amused by her servant's acting. "I need it, so give it back!"

"Don't worry, I'll return it to you." Those words caused Louise to sigh in relief. "Before your classes of course. Until then I'll be safekeeping it."

"Y-you can't do that!" Louise protested.

Evan stood up with his smirk on and turned around to leave. "Then why was I able to just do it?"

Another ruckus followed after that, but without her magic wand Louise was even less of a threat for him that originally. She could yell to him as much as she wanted, but that wasn't going to make him feel bad for her. Such emotions weren't a part of his system.

Eventually they reached the breakfast hallway, which was huge and filled with other students, most of which were talking among themselves. Evan didn't look much at the food that was being served, since no other familiars seemed to be present he figured out that he wasn't going to be eating there. Despite how cold and rebellious he was, the boy did surprise Louise by pulling back her chair so she could sit down. After doing that, he put the girl's wand on her lap, so that others wouldn't notice or ask why her wand was in her familiar's possession.

"I'll look for the library, if you need me, come and call." Evan whispered into the girl's ear and grabbed a piece of bread before walking off. This time his master didn't even try to retort; she was starting to learn to be obedient.

It did take some time for him to find said location, but with help from the staff working at the place, he managed to orientate in the castle and soon ended in the library. Looking through the books, he was trying to learn something more about this world that he was transported to. All of the books that he found were written in French, which meant to him that the useless girl that summoned him wasn't even able to cast a translating sleep that worked on the books. Despite that he was able to learn a few things about this world. For example most of the books were about water, earth, wind and fire magic, which meant that the four elements of nature were the main 'attributes' of magic. There was no mentioning about light or darkness sadly which meant that those most likely didn't exist, or were simply not discovered yet. It was so bothersome.

In the world that Evan came from, light and dark were the two main sides of a conflict. The Gentle Darkness and the Light of Destruction, the Barian World and the Astral World, all the recorded conflicts surrounding Duel Monsters pointed that Light and Darkness were the main forces driving his universe. He himself had affinity for Time and Darkness, which meant that if he was able to use magic, the magic that he would use shall be Dark Magic. Of course he didn't know the rules behind magic casting in this world, so he didn't know how to use it.

But then there was the rune on his left arm. Why was it there? It didn't appear to have any effect on him, and it certainly didn't make him obey his master's orders. What was its secret? Since this world appeared to have bigger affinity for magic, did it mean that he would be able to use his darkness to call forth the monsters existing inside his cards?

Evan looked at his deck. The cards in Duel Monsters could function as gateways connecting the world of the spirits with the world of humanity, but for that to happen there had to be either magic involved or science capable of giving the monsters complete physical appearance, with mass and everything.

"Servant!"

"Now this again." Evan groaned and dropped the book he was reading to look at the pink haired midget standing before him. "What is it that you need this time, master?"

"Follow me." Louise ordered her familiar and turned around to lead, except that her familiar didn't follow. "Why are you still sitting there? I told you to follow me!"

"I won't." Evan retorted and leaned back into his chair. "And unless you have no problem blowing up this library, I don't think that you will be able to force me."

"Why must you be so disobedient!?" Louise exclaimed. "We are supposed to go outside and get to know our familiars today. Everyone else is already outside, so I can't go out alone. Everyone will make fun of me."

Now that caught Evan's interest. Everyone else was already outside? Then that meant he would see what kind of familiars the other mages at that place were able to summon. Maybe he would also get to test out if there were any magical capabilities transferred over to his cards due to the way this world functionate.

"You got my interest," Evan stood up and walked over to Louise. "Lead the way."

"At least you listen to reason." Louise sighed and turned on her heels, walking off with her familiar following shortly.

"Are you serious?"

* * *

Evan's mouth was hung open. Birds, cats, dogs, a few magical creatures that looked more like cute shuffled animals that beasts, it was like he was in a zoo. Evan looked at Louise, even if she was a failure of a magician, she was able to summon a sentient creature, which was also able to talk! She got angry and called him a failure of a familiar because he didn't act like a slave, but anyone with half a brain could tell that out of everyone, she was the one who got the best possible familiar.

"Oh?" A girl called behind them. Evan and Louise turned around to see the red haired girl from yesterday, and a red lizard with flames on the end of its tail. Now that, was what Evan would call a familiar, it didn't look threatening at first, but it was better than a puppy or a mouse.

"And just when I thought that I wouldn't see a good familiar." Evan commented, only to earn himself a glare from Louise.

"It seems that your familiar was a good eye, Louise." The red haired girl said while petting the red lizard. "This is a salamander, have you seen one before?"

"A few times." It was actually hard for Evan to answer with either yes or no. Duel Monsters definitely had a problem with its card designs, as sometimes they made robotic looking creatures that were actually dragons, other times they would make dragons but call them wyrms.

"I see," the girl wasn't sure how to respond. "This one is Flame, he's a very loyal servant that does what I tell him to."

"Don't give me that!" Louise shouted at the girl.

"You know, didn't you just sneak in a peasant that was walking around the area?" the red haired girl continued. "You covered it well with that explosion."

"That's not true! I made the summon properly. This guy just happened to show up!" Louise retorted and pointed at her familiar.

Evan felt like he should be offended by her calling him this guy, but he was never the type to try remember others' names, so maybe this was his karma. Either way, just standing there and letting the red head angering his Summoner would almost definitely result in a hilarious outcome that, while Evan was eager to see, he also didn't want share Louise's embarrassment with so many people around to see them.

"If she smuggled in a peasant to play the role of her familiar she would have to pay him." Evan finally spoke up. "And I don't think that this failure of a mage could offer someone enough money to act as her familiar."

"Why you!" Louise glared daggers at her familiar.

"Ha! At least he knows how much of a failure you are!" the red head laughed. "He's very befitting for you, Louise the Zero."

"What's up with that wrench?!" growled Louise after said 'wrench' walked off. "And you!" She turned toward Evan. "Don't join in when someone's mocking your master! I'll return it to you later, but now, bring me some tea!"

"With that attitude not even a mouse would be willing to follow your orders." Evan waved his hand dismissively.

"What did you say?" Louise growled.

"That you are unable to difference a familiar from a servant." Evan replied, gesturing toward the others. "Do you see anyone else trying to order their familiars around like you do?"

"That's because you aren't listening to me!" Louise defended.

"No, that's because you are a weakling that needs to try and insert power in her relationships to feel as less of a failure." Evan sneered and walked past her. "Face it, zero. You got neither the magical, physical or mental strength to keep me here, the only reason why I haven't left is that I don't feel like doing it. If I wanted to escape from this place I would have done it before you could sneer."

"You…" Louise lowered her head, the shadows of her bangs covering her eyes. "You don't know anything! You are just a familiar!"

"But I'm not a servant." Evan retorted and turned his back to her. "You have two choices. Either keep yelling at me, making another scene showing your incompetence as a master, or follow after me."

Louise bit her lower lip. As much as she disliked it, she had to go with the second option just to save whatever little bit of self-respect she had. She followed Evan away from the rest of the mages and the tables. Once they got to a good distance from the others, Evan lied down on the grass.

"What are you doing?" Louise asked, confused by her familiar's action.

"This is where we will be sitting." Evan replied.

"You want to make a noble sit on the grass?!" Louise cried out in outrage.

"If you don't like it, you can go sit with the others and explain to them why your familiar isn't with you." Evan shrugged.

To say that Louise hated her familiar would be an understatement. Yes, she hated him from the moment he showed up, taking away her once in a life chance to show her classmates that she wasn't a complete zero. But now, he was not only disobeying all of her orders, helping others mocking her, but also made her do things that were degrading for a noble. What next? Was he going to tell her to wash his clothes too? No, just no!

"So, tell me something about yourself."

"Huh?" Louise looked at her familiar, completely lost for words.

"You heard my question." Evan sighed and turned to his side, so he could look at her. "We're supposed to get familiar with each other, right? As the master, you can start first."

So now he was accepting that she was the master? Louise shook her head. It was better not to get into that topic, again.

"Well, I'm Louise Francoise Le Blanc de La Valliere, the third daughter of the Duke and Duchess of La Vallière,"

"That's now what I was asking about." Evan sighed, shaking his head. "I want to know about you, why everyone is asking you Louise the Zero and all."

"I-I've been called Louise the Zero for as long as I can remember." Louise lowered her head, feeling ashamed to say that to her familiar. "My classmates gave me that nickname due to my constant failures at casting magic. No matter what I try, it always ends up in an explosion."

"Are you able to feel the magic that you are using?" Evan asked her.

"Um, what do you mean by feeling it?" Evan sighed when his question was answered with a more stupid question.

"Nothing… forget it." Asking his master on explanation about how magic worked in this world was a waste of time. "So, I believe it's my turn to speak up. Unless you don't care, which I'm cool with."

"What!?" Louise shouted. "After I told you about myself, you aren't going to say anything? I don't even know your name yet."

"Ah, right." He never told her his name, did he? "My name is Evan Greyson and before getting transported here, I used to hunt down monsters and cults."

"Hunting?" Louise raised an eyebrow. "Are you, killing monsters?"

"Something like that, yes." Although a more correct explanation would be to say that he trapped them inside cards and corrupted them with dark magic to act as his servants… "I did that as a side-activity. Oh, I also have the ability to talk to spirits, although this power doesn't appear to be very useful here."

"Spirits?" Now Louise was interested. Could her familiar have some sort of useful magic powers?

"Yes, specifically spirits from another realm." Evan nodded and pulled out his deck, handling it to Louise. "These cards serve as a gateway through which I'm able to communicate with them."

"Those are some weird looking cards…" Louise muttered. "I can't read what it says. What language is this?"

Well, at least now Evan had a confirmation that the girl didn't know any spells that could translate text. "It's an ancient magic language from my place of birth. I would teach you, but I don't have the books necessary to do so." In really, the cards were written in English… "Now if you please, handling them incorrectly could release the spirits and if that happens, chaos would ensue."

"T-take them!" Louise threw the cards back at Evan immediately after hearing about the danger. It was just so hard for Evan not to burst into laughter just to irritate her. She was so naïve and easy to lie to.

Evan collected his cards from the glass calmly while looking at the other mages. Once in specific caught his eye. It was the blond guy from last night, what was his name? Guiche? This time he was sitting with a different girl from the one with whom he saw the blond yesterday. This time his partner was a blonde girl. Was he dating multiple girls at once? What a dog.

"Hey, master?" Evan turned toward Louise with a crooked smirk on his face. "Do you want the other mages to respect you?"

"What are you planning, familiar?" Louise in turn could already tell that the boy had something in mind.

"A deal with the devil." Evan replied. "I'll help you climb from the bottom, become something more than the failure everyone is laughing at, but in response, you must swear your loyalty."

"A noble swearing loyalty to a peasant!?" Louise was going to jump on the boy and beat him then and there if it wasn't for the realization that he would be able to most likely overpower her. "You're mad!"

"Of course I'm mad." Evan grinned and stood up. "Where's the fun in not being mad? But if you're unsure, I can use this as a demonstration for my skills."

"Hey, what are you going to do!?" Louise shouted after her familiar but it was too late, the boy wasn't listening to her.

Evan walked through the crowd, looking around for the girl with the soufflés. He membered that Guiche told her last night how much he would like to try them and was almost sure that she would show up today in order to give him some. And what would you know? He was absolutely right. Spotting the girl walking through the crowd wasn't hard and going to her was even easier. She was looking around, no mistake looking for a certain someone and Evan was going to help her out.

"Hey, aren't you the girl that Guiche was with last night?" Evan walked in front of her, a seemingly innocent and friendly smile on his face. "Are you looking for him?"

"Yes." The girl nodded. "I'm sure that Lord Guiche is here somewhere, but I can't find him…"

"Ah don't worry, he's right there." Evan replied gesturing toward the man himself, sitting on a table with a blonde girl.

"Lord Guiche!"

From there on, there was little that Evan had to do in order to finish the train wreck of a relationship that he caused. Watching the male trying to explain what was going on to the two girls was almost like watching a romance comedy, or drama, it depended from which side you were looking at it and how twisted your mind was. In Evan's case it was twisted enough to sit down and eat some popcorns while laughing. Sadly there were no popcorns, so he was going to throw one last bone to unleash the beasts that Guiche was trying to calm down.

"You are such a lucky guy!" Evan called out. "I remember you saying to the girl that you would love to taste some of those soufflés while you were alone last night."

"Y-you!"

Guiche looked at Evan both shocked and angry. But there was nothing he could do to calm down the two girls now that they were starting to fully understand what was happening behind each of their backs. Only a few moments later, Guiche was down, a red mark from the blonde girl's slap on his face. Everyone else that was there to see it was crying out of laughter and Evan was sure that the blond casanova was so angry with him, that he would try to put this 'disobedient familiar' to his place.

"It seems that you don't know how to pay respect to nobility." Guiche said in a threatening voice.

"You're the one who's unable to tell apart a true noble from a swine, but of course that's because you are a swine as well." Evan retorted, running a hand through his hair.

"You dare insult a noble." Guiche gritted his teeth. "There's no choice, I challenge you to a duel!"

"How unfortunate for you then." Evan snored. As a duelist, he had fought countless other duelist and was pretty good at it. Of course, he realized that the type of duel Guiche was talking about was different from the one he was used to, but that didn't really matter. A duel was a duel.

"You are nothing but a peasant, insulting a noble!" Guiche shouted and pointed a rose at Evan. "And on top of that, you made two ladies cry!"

"That's weird, I didn't see any tears, they were just mad at you." Evan shrugged. The crowd seemed to laugh at his response, even though he wasn't trying to be funny…

"Prepare yourself! I'll be waiting at Vestori Square!" Guiche declared and stormed off.

"What are you doing?!" Sadly, all of Evan's little entertainment disappeared when a familiar voice called for him and Louise appeared.

"Getting into a fight that you believe I got no chance to win because blond playboy over there is a magic wielding noble while for all you know I'm a weak peasant that he could kill in one strike." The girl stared in disbelief at the boy's answer.

"Why are you promising to fight without permission?" Louise grabbed her familiar's arm and dragged him along. "We're going to apologize to Guiche right now. Hopefully it won't be too late for him to forgive you."

"You don't seem to understand the situation, midget." Evan pulled his hand away from Louise's grip. "I know what I'm getting myself into. I promised to levitate your status here, right?"

"By what? Dying!?" Louise shouted back at her familiar. "You don't understand anything! Peasants can never win against nobles. You'll be lucky to get away with just minor wounds. If you plan on dying so I can summon a new familiar, it won't work!"

"Don't think I'll give up my life for you." Evan grimaced. "If the rule is that peasants can't defeat nobles, then that means the horny blond I'm about to fight against stands no chance of actually beating me. Better come and watch, you might learn a few things."

With that said, Evan turned toward the crowd and asked them for the location that Guiche told him. They all gave him the direction and so he stomped off toward it. It was somewhere in the courtyard, a completely empty space perfect for the fight that was going to happen. Many other mages came to watch the fight, no doubt expecting to see Evan getting his ass handed to him.

"I praise you for actually showing up and not running off." Guiche said.

"Please, I was trying to get this duel to happen." Evan responded causing his opponent's eyes to widen at the realization.

"You bastard…"

"Wait!" Louise called and ran to interfere. "That's enough, Guiche! Duels are forbidden."

"Only duels between two nobles are forbidden." Guiche explained. "He is a peasant so there's no problem."

"That's because nothing like this has ever happened…" Louise was trying to plead with the blond guy while Evan just rolled his eyes at the girl's interference.

"Will you step aside, master of zero?" Evan asked, causing Louise to visible tremble at the insult while the crowd began to laugh again. "This duel has already started, you can't stop it."

"Your familiar said it!" Guiche looked away from Louise and raised his rose. A single petal fell off it and landed on the ground, causing a warrior-like creature made of brass to come out of the ground carrying a spear. "I'm named Guiche the Brass. Therefore a brass golem, a Valkyrie, will be your opponent."

Evan narrowed his eyes. So the guy could summon something beside a familiar and without the need of using a spell or anything? Evan already knew that it was possible to use his monsters' true strength in this world and hoped to get a better understanding of it in a combat which would push him to his limits, but to be shown that summoning was so easily to achieve so early in the duel, Guiche was practically handling him the victory on a silver plate.

The Valkyrie golem charged at Evan, jabbing a fist on his face. Evan quickly moved his left wrist, with the Wrist Dealer made of metal, in front of himself, blocking the first attack. Immediately after this happen however a second fist came flying toward him and hit him in the guts. Evan gasped in pain, his guard dropping for a moment, long enough for the golem to place a second him on his face.

Evan stumbled back in pain, blood pouring from his mouth, but he tried to ignore the pain and instead rolled to the side, avoiding another one of the golem's attacks. It looked like the creature attacked faster when Evan success to dodge or block and slower when it actually hit its target. The duelist realized that Guiche was playing with him.

"Just surrender, peasants can't defeat mages!" Louise cried out, but Evan ignored her. Guiche got a chance to show his strength, now it was Evan's turn.

"I must give you credit for fighting like a noble." Evan complimented Guiche while wiping away the blood dripping from his mouth. "Using magic instead of getting your hands dirty."

"Hmm, words of praise mean nothing when they come from a commoner." Guiche waved it off.

"Still," Evan's smile dropped and his crimson eyes glared at his opponent. "You made one big mistake."

"It seems that you haven't learned that you lost." said Guiche. "Valkyrie, attack!"

"I'll make you learn now to leave a weak monster out!" Evan shouted as the golem charged at him. "My turn, draw!"

The duelist placed his fingers on the top card of his deck and focused. Cards were the gateway to another world, through magic their abilities could be unlocked. Evan took a deep breath, the card that he was holding starting to glow brightly, causing a chain reaction that resulted in the runes on his left arm to glow as well. With one swift move, Evan pulled the card and held it in front of himself.

"I call forth, Darkest Diabolos, Lord of the Lair!" Darkness shot out of Evan's card and enveloped its user as the Valkyrie's fist made contact and the sound of metal crashing echoed through the area.

Guiche's confident smile disappeared from his face. All the mages that have come to watch the duel were in shock as well. Evan was confused on what just happened.

Darkest Diabolos, Lord of the Lair was a large black dragon covered in chains and red runes. Only this time it wasn't. Instead of summoning a monster to fight for him, the card itself transformed into a set of pitch black dragon armor that enveloped Evan's body.

"That's… not how I expected things to go." Evan looked at his arms.

Why didn't Duel Monsters work in this world like they did in his? Was it the magic of this world that restricted them? Was it the weird runes on his arm that caused this change? Or was it something completely different. Either way, he now had a weapon to fight with and a horny blond noble to beat, so researching his abilities would be left for later.

After checking his armor, Evan looked down at his chest where the Valkyrie's fist had hit his armor. He placed his left arm on the golem's and squeezed, breaking the creature's arm into pieces. The golem stumbled back, only for Evan's right first to pierce through the beast's head and come out of the back.

Guiche stepped back, to have his golem be taken out like that, it wouldn't stand! With another wave of his rose, the mage summoned six more Valkyries to take the place of the fallen one. In response to that, Evan spread out his armor's wings and flew into the air to avoid their attacks before diving into the small army. The boy slammed its fist into the ground, unleashing a wave of purple flames that knocked down all the mages watching the fight and caused the golems to lose balance.

An opening!

Thinking fast, Evan grabbed one of the golem by the arm and swung it. It was all in the armor, instead of getting a dragon that would fight on his side, he was given an armor which made Evan physically equal to a dragon. He could feel the magic power flowing through his body, the strength, the knowledge, it was all there!

"You can have this back!" Evan yelled, throwing the Valkyrie onto Guiche, knocking the mage.

Now that the summoner was temporally dealt with, the boy turned toward the remaining golems that charged at him. Blocking one's spear with his arm, Evan buried his right fist into the Valkyrie's chest and fired a fireball from inside it, blowing up the creature, as well as sending pieces of brass flying everywhere. The mages watching the duel winched at the boy's brutality and some even had to look away as Evan teared out a golem's arms and used them to beat it over the head.

Guiche groaned as he pushed the fallen golem's body off himself. The blond mage grabbed his rose again and pointed it at the battlefield, only for the rose to stop a few inches away from the pitch black armor. It was over. All of Guiche's golems were in pieces, the only ones remaining were Guiche himself and Evan, who was currently staring down at the aforementioned blond mage.

"Ready to talk your beating like a man?" Evan's question was met with a cringe from his opponent, who dropped the rose on the ground.

"I yield!" Guiche dropped his head. A cry of shock echoing through the crowd.

'Just as I expected.' Thought Evan, dropping the Valkyrie head that he was planning to beat the blond boy with in case he had enough balls to face him. Of course the chance for that to happen was small. Everyone here was a magician, they specialized in magic attacks and if his experience with Louise was anything to go by, they often let their familiar and summonable creatures do the hard work for them. So facing a man clad in armor at close combat would like a suicide for them.

"To think that a noble could lose against a peasant." Guiche muttered under his breath.

"Enough calling me that." Evan retorted, glaring at the boy. "I ignored it until now since I wasn't interested in showing off, but I won't let forgive anyone who dares to call me that filthy word anymore! I'm no peasant! My name is Evan Greyson and I'm the familiar of Louise Francoise Le Blanc de La Valliere!"

Silence. No one dared to talk back after witnessing the brutal beating that Guiche's golems took. Everyone looked at Louise, and for the first time she could see respect in their eyes, not just that, they were intimidated, even scared after witnessing her familiar's destructive capabilities. But she ignored her classmates' eyes and ran over to Evan.

"Are you ok?" She asked him.

"Of course, I took the two hits for a more dramatic effect." Evan retorted. The runes on his arm stopped to glow and the black armor covering his body flew into his hand, transforming back into the card that he was familiar with.

"Oh…" Louise understood.

"Shall we go, master?"

"Eh?"

Louise exclaimed in surprise as Evan took her hand into his own. He promised to her that he would help her climb to fame and he intended to follow through with that promise. The girl in turn smiled, holding tightly on her servant's hand.

"Right," nodded Louise and stepped forward, leading her familiar. "Follow me, familiar!"

Evan did so without any protest. Was he going to be a rebellious familiar? Most likely. Was he going to obey her orders? Absolutely no! Was he going to try and find a way home? Definitely!

There was a family and friends that he had left behind in his world, a life good enough for someone like him. He would never forget what was behind, he would never give up on trying to regain it.

But for now, he had a new mission in front of him. Making a girl feel proud of herself and her familiar!


	2. Night Dramas and a Sword

**Before everything else, I want to apologize for forgetting to put horizontal lines to separate the scenes in my last chapter. It took my three days to realize that mistake, so again, I apologize for the inconvenience that my laziness caused. I'll try to avoid such 'incidents' in the future.**

**Second, I want to thank to everyone for favoriting, following, reviewing, and just reading the first chapter of this story.**

**Third, I'll try to have every chapter I write cover at least one episode of Familiar of Zero. The last one covered both Episode 1 and 2, while this one will cover only Episode 3. The reason for that is that I got a different amount of contest to cover from each episode. After all, Evan isn't Saito so naturally the story won't follow the same adventures as the canon ones; some will be skipped.**

**With all of that said, I hope you enjoy the second chapter of Champion of Zero!**

* * *

"Wake up."

Louise's body turned to the side as the voice spoke at her. She opened her eyes and looked sleepily at the boy standing next to her bed with an unemotional, yet calm look on his face. But what surprised the girl the most was that her familiar held one of her uniforms in his arms. It was very weird for her, she could never make him obey her orders, despite that he sometimes did exactly what she wanted from him, as long as she didn't bother him about it. Of course that wasn't always the case. Today he prepared her clothes for the day, but yesterday he didn't despite her not trying to order him around. In the end, she figured out that her familiar was going to be obedient when he decided and as much as she tried to force him into obeying, the only punishment she could force on him would be starvation and, if she did that, she feared that he would just get annoyed and leave. Something she had no way to stop him from doing.

Louise sat up and began to take off nightglow, removing the only clothing that covered her body. Indifferent to the view, Evan handled the girl's panties. Louise stood up, putting the piece of garment on before turning toward her familiar. She had no idea how that would work out for her and she expected him to throw the rest of the clothes in her face like he did before, but she still dared to try and order him.

"Dress me."

"No."

Louise sighed. At least he didn't threw the clothes in her face, but that didn't make it that much better. A disobedient familiar was still a disobedient familiar. Why was she such a failure? Failing at magic was one thing, but failing to make a single person obey her orders - she was a disgrace as a noble.

"Nobles that have servants never dress themselves!" Louise shouted back.

"And that's why you are so easy to push around." Evan retorted. "It's good for a noble to keep an iron hold over their servants, but if you rely on these rats for something as simple as dressing you up, you'll indirectly give control of yourself to them. For instance, right now I could very easily snap your neck while putting your clothes on. You'll be dead before you know that you were betrayed."

A chill ran down Louise's spine at the thought. Indeed, Evan could dispatch of her any time he wanted and leave this place undisturbed. By the time someone came and found her corpse, he would be on a good distance from the academy and no one would be likely able to catch him.

"Was that a threat, familiar?" Louise crossed her arms, glaring at the boy.

"I'm simply performing my duties by advising you." said Evan, putting Louise's clothes on the bed.

"Advising me?" Normally Louise would say that a peasant couldn't and shouldn't advise a noble, but peasants couldn't use magic and Evan used magic to summon the armor during his fight with Guiche, "Familiar, are you, by a chance, a noble?"

"What makes you think that I'm?" Evan asked back.

"Peasants are unable to use magic." Louise stated. "Only nobles and those with the blood of a noble have the potential to become mages. What you used in the last duel was a form of summoning magic, correct? You summoned that armor."

Evan paused. For once he would have to consider carefully his answer. If he answered that he wasn't a noble and just a normal boy, it would raise a lot of questions. How a normal peasant could learn magic, was he truly a human, and other stuff that Evan didn't want to deal with. But if he said that he was, indeed, a noble, everyone's reaction would be priceless. For starters Louise would begin to treat him as her equal and would be easier to fall under his influence. She was currently scared of him, he could tell that much, but fear caused people to fight back unconsciously, while respect made them follow like sheeps.

Second, this would have an effect on Louise's classmates. They made fun of her for summoning a peasant, so if Evan came out as a noble from another world, they would be both shocked and respectful toward Louise for managing to achieve such a feat despite her lack of magical skills.

"Indeed, I'm a noble from a different world." Evan lied. He crossed his arms behind his back and turned away from Louise. "But magic in my world functioned differently from the way it does here. For instance, during the duel I was trying to summon a dragon to fight for me but instead of that I got an armor made from the dragon's spirit."

"A-amazing!" Louise gasped. From her reaction Evan could guess that summoning a living creature was a much harder thing to do that call a bunch of golems.

It still didn't make sense why Darkest Diabolos turned into a set of armor. Was there some rules that prevented mages from summoning living creatures, unless they were familiars? If that was the case, it would make sense for his Duel Spirits to bypass that restriction by taking a different form, such as a set of armor. Evan rubbed his chin, he would have to do further research on that theory.

"You should dress up quickly, or we will be late for class." Evan told his master. Usually familiars didn't get to stay with their masters during classes, but they weren't forbidden by the rules, so as long as a familiar didn't cause trouble, they were allowed to stay. As a human, Evan understood those rules far better that most other familiars in the academy.

* * *

"Fire, Water, Earth, and Air magic create a different, stronger effect by combining multiple elements together. Furthermore, the level of mages is determined by how many elements we can combine. What are those levels?"

Evan appeared half-asleep while listening to that lecture. All for elements that the teacher talked about existed in Duel Monsters as well, but there were also Dark and Light, which weren't mentioned here, neither in the books, nor by the teachers. To them, his affinity for the Dark attribute was something completely unknown and it could explain why he wasn't able to use his abilities the way he did in his world.

Evan looked back at the chair where the blond girl that Guiche cheated to was sitting. Her name was Montmorency and she was explaining the levels of mages. From what he understood, when two elements combined, they formed a Line, three formed a Triangle and four formed a Square. That information was particularly interesting because it meant that Evan wouldn't always come across mages controlling a single element. Who knew that you could learn so much by staying in school?

"I believe that most of you can deal with one element at a time."

"Miss Cherveuse, I hate to say this, but a student that can't use even one element, with a zero percentage rate of magic success, is among us." Evan also recognized the red haired girl from yesterday. Of course she was taking another cheap shot at his master.

Despite everyone's glares being focused on Louise, she didn't appear to care. Was she that used to being throw in the mud and called a failure that she could brush off their insults like they were nothing? Evan shrugged, it wasn't his problem to deal with. Yet, why did he want to prove these brats wrong so much?

"Aren't you going to try and prove them wrong?" Evan turned toward his master. "After all, your magic success isn't zero anymore."

This caused Louise to actually look at her familiar in surprise. She might not realize it, but since familiars usually were neither humanoid, nor magic users, during the summoning ritual she exceeded the rest of her classmates.

"You summoned a noble as your familiar, shouldn't you be proud of yourself?" Louise turned away and didn't answer Evan's question, but she was smiling a bit.

After classes ended the due was going back toward their room when Evan suddenly walked in front of Louise and stopped her from continuing. The girl raised an eyebrow and looked up to meet her familiar's eyes. They looked at each other for a moment before Evan turned toward the green field that was just outside.

"Instead of going home, we'll practice magic today." Evan told her.

Albeit lacking expectations for his master's magical abilities, Evan wanted to use the opportunity to try out a few things that he had thought about, but didn't get the chance to use in practice. Since Monster Cards did function in this universe, albeit differently, the young man was curious if Spell and Trap Cards would work as well, and if they did, how exactly would they function. Of course that was research that he was completely capable of performing himself, but he wanted to show the result to Louise.

"It's no use." Louise lowered her head. "I've practiced a lot and my spells never worked before. I'll just cause more disasters."

"You've never asked anyone for help, have you?" Louise lowered her head even further to Evan's question. "You might think of yourself to be a failure, but the facts are that you can cast magic. Your difficulties are in turning your magic into a functional spell."

"But,"

"No excuses." Evan shook his head. "We'll train until you learn how to successfully chant a spell, even if it takes us a whole day!"

Louise hesitated for a moment, but still followed after her familiar. How came that this man was able to tell her what to do when she should be the one ordering him around? She flushed at the thought of it. The excuse she was giving herself mentally for following what the boy told her to was his status as a noble in a different universe. So, in a way, he was her equal.

The two of them stepped on the field and Evan pulled out several cards from his deck, looking them over. Louise didn't know what her familiar was intending to do, she just stood there waiting for him to tell her what he expected from her to do. Evan had already experienced the consequences of Louise's failed spells during the first time of his summoning, so it was surprising that he was willing to try and teach her how to use her magic.

"I think we should start with one of the more basic spells you have learned." Evan turned toward Louise. "Do you know any simple ones?"

"Y-yes." Louise nodded, but then averted her eyes as she continued. "I know Fireball, but when I tried to cast it…"

"…It exploded." Evan finished the sentence for Louise, causing her head to drop once again. The girl's self-esteem took so many hits while she tried to learn magic that at this point it was practically non-existing, despite how much she tried to act like her failure at casting spells didn't affect her.

"We'll work it out, don't worry." Evan tried to reassure her. "But before we start, I want to make one small experiment on my own."

Evan took one of the cards that he was looking at and returned the rest into his deck. Louise looked at him in confusion. Unlike the card which he used yesterday, this one was mostly green in color, so was it a different type of spell? Evan held out the card in front of himself, focusing on the small area before him that he wanted to aim it at, and then called out the card's name.

"Swords of Revealing Light!"

In an instant, the card in his hand began to glow and three swords made of light formed in the area that he was thinking about. Louise gasped in surprise once again. The swords were all levitating mid-air and Evan wasn't using his magic to keep them off the ground. She had never seen a magic like this being used before. It was hard to tell what kind of spell this was, it didn't appear to be Fire, Water, Earth, or Air magic.

"It didn't change in appearance." Evan muttered under his breath.

"What kind of spell is this, familiar!?" Louise grabbed the boy's arm and pointed at the levitating swords. "I-I have never seen a spell like this before one!"

"I told you that I'm from another world, didn't I." Evan sighed. Giving a proper explanation would be impossible for him since the type of magic that existed there was in most cases prohibited dark magic, but given that his cards had their own kind of magical abilities, he was going to try and explain them in a way that would make sense. "In my world, these cards are divided in six main attributes, that being Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Light and Dark."

"I have never heard about Light and Dark magic before." Louise's eyes widened in awe. "What kind of magic is that?"

"Uh…" Evan rubbed the back of his neck. "Since they aren't part of the four elements of nature, it's hard to give a proper explanation. I personally specialize in Dark, almost all of the monsters that I have are from the Dark attribute."

"But you just chanted a Light based spell!" Louise pointed out. "Are you a Line mage?"

"Um," How should he answer? Making himself look all powerful and cool was good, but he shouldn't overdo it. "Why don't we start practicing your magic?"

Why try and answer Louise's question, when he could just ignore it all together and let her believe in what she wanted? This way he wouldn't prematurely destroy her expectations, or lie to her. But what was more important, he wanted her to not feel down while casting spells.

"Right." Louise nodded to her familiar's words and glanced around. "But are you sure that it's safe? I mean, casting a fireball at a field of grass could start a fire and,"

"You won't be aiming at the glass." Evan interrupted her and pointed at the three floating swords that he summoned. "You'll aim at these. It would be safer."

Louise nodded again and pointer her wand at the three swords. Since they were created from magic, in case her magic backfired, there would be no serious damage done and her familiar would be able to summon another set of swords to replace the previous ones. But what if she missed and instead of the swords…

"Calm down." Evan blurted out the words almost on instinct and put his hands on the girl's shoulders.

"You should take a step back." Louise warned her familiar.

"If your spell fails, I'll stand here and take the blast with you." That was a crazy thing to say, but Evan realized that he had a duty to stand by his master's side even if things went wrong.

Louise felt strange, there was a feeling inside her chest that she was unfamiliar with. She didn't know if her familiar was using some sort of spell on her, but all of her worries and fears were quickly fading away in her mind. The fear of failure and being called a zero had completely disappeared as well. Her lips parted away and she began to softly chant her spell.

"Fireball!"

Like previous times, her spell caused an explosion, but surprisingly, this time the magic's effect was directed toward the target that Louise had chosen instead of blowing everything around her. Despite that, when the smoke cleared, all three of the swords that Evan had summoned stood in place, unfazed by the assault.

"Another failure." Louise dropped her head. For a moment there, she believed, she truly believed that this time the result would be different…

"Not quite." Louise turned to look at her familiar. The boy kept his hands on her shoulders as he continued. "Swords of Revealing Light is a spell that neutralizes all attacks, physical or magical. Though in my world it had a certain time limit on its effect… I didn't expect your attack to do any damage."

"The why?" Why would Evan tell Louise to aim at the swords, if her magic would be neutralized? "Are you making fun of me, familiar!?"

Of course she should have known it. They did, every single person in this school had always made fun of her, of her inability to cast properly. It was humiliating, they knew it, but it was just too fun for them to make fun of someone who couldn't respond back! Louise slapped her familiar's arms off her shoulders. He too, was making fun of her. It was a lie, that moment of intimacy, the touch that made her feel calm and safe; he was just trying to humiliate her like everyone else!

"No food for you for a week!" Louise yelled at Evan and stormed off. "And you can't sleep in the room!"

"She took it worse than I expected." Evan muttered to himself and looked back at the swords. They were starting to fade away already.

Evan narrowed his eyes and turned around to walk back into the academy. Louise had a hard time believing in others because of all the humiliation that she had to go through on a daily basis. He couldn't blame her for that, but this small test did help him understand her magic a bit better. If her sleeps were correct, which they most likely were, then why did every spell end up with the same result? Why would every magic result in an explosion? One would expect the failures to be more… diverse – depending on the type of magic used.

Evan had the gut feeling that there was more to this world's magic system that was written in the books and studied in the academy. One thing he was sure about was, that Louise wasn't a failure.

* * *

Naturally, Evan wasn't going to let himself collapse from hunger because Louise banned him from eating for a week. He was planning to sneak into the kitchen and take some food, but much to his surprise, the staff were all more than happy to offer him whatever food was left for dinner.

Apparently they too thought that he was one of them and were happy to offer him their service for managing to beat Guiche in their duel. From the way the chief talked about the mages, calling them 'aristocrat brats', Evan figured out that even the regular people that worked in the academy disliked the students they had to serve. Of course, he didn't tell them how disgusted he felt to be surrounded by plebeians, since they gave him food, but he was very tempted to tell them about it.

Society could only functionate if it was split in two groups - the capable ones in the upper class and everyone else as the lower class. That was what Evan had always believed. The strong ruling the weak, it was a law of nature, the entire balance inside a society lied upon that idea. Yes, in a way it was unfair to have the dividing between the two groups be based on a characteristic that you have or don't have from birth – for instance, it would be absurd to say that people with green eyes should be aristocrats while everyone else should be plebeians, but magic was far more complicated than eye color. Explaining all the reason why this divide in society was normal would take too much of Evan's time, and he didn't have much of it as the sun had already settled down and everyone else was heading to bed.

After finishing his dinner, Evan headed back toward his room. Several hours have already passed and he expected Louise have calmed down enough to listen to what he had to say. Sadly, on his way back he was suddenly assaulted by a salamander who took him somewhere else.

Evan didn't try to fight against the overgrown wizard for several reasons, but to narrow them down to the most important ones: First, the lizard was the same as the one that acted as a certain redhead's familiar. Second, he didn't try using any lethal attacks, such as fire breath when it attacked, so Evan immediately realized that the creature's aim wasn't to eliminate him. Third, despite its rough look, the salamander tried to be gentle as it carried the sixteen years old back to its master.

Talking about the redhead, when the salamander finally dropped Evan down and gave him a chance to look around, Evan noticed several things. First, the room he was currently into had multiple lit candles that were most likely an attempt at setting up a romantic mood – spoilers, said attempt failed the moment an overgrown lizard bite Evan's jacket. But more importantly, the red haired girl that ridiculed Louise on several occasions was standing in front of him, dressed in an open purple nightgown that revealed a lot of her curvy tanned figure. She also had a smug look on her face as she looked down at him; always a bad sign.

"Welcome to my sweet room, Evan Gradesoon. Or was it, Gardenroom?" Evan raised an eyebrow? Was she trying to act cute, or did she seriously kidnap him without even knowing his name?

"It's Greyson." Evan corrected her and stood up, dusting his jacket. "From grey and son; son of grey. But more importantly, I don't think that I have had the chance to catch your name yet, miss?"

"Call me just Kirche." The girl replied in a seductive tone and walked over to him, pressing her hands against his chest. "I know it's dirty, but I also go by the nickname, The Feveret, and like a torch, I'm easy to turn on."

Evan stood unfazed by her words. He already had the feeling that the girl was a Fire type mage, but apparently she was fire in more places than just the school room.

"Hmm, you seem to have a good physique." Kirche kept talking, leaning closer to the boy until her melons pressed against his chest, her arms going to his back and his hair as her lips remained a few inches away from his. "You are pretty balanced, not very muscular, sadly, but also not skinny. And those crimson eyes, they are so… hypnotizing to look at."

Yep, she was a hoe alright.

"Most girls I have been with were interested in the fangs." Evan replied, making sure that Kirche could get a good look at his sharp shark-like teeth. "They all want to feel the bite."

"I'm sure it feels good." Kirche whispered back, one of her arms going underneath Evan's jacket and shirt, feeling his back, while the other played with the small ponytail on the back of his head. "As long as you promise to be gentle with me."

"Kirche!" shouted a man's voice.

Both Evan and said redhead turned around to see a man floating outside her window. Judging from his expression, he wasn't very pleased with what he was seeing.

"Hey, Sticks." Kirche greeted him like nothing was happening.

"You didn't show up on time so I came here and…" Evan rolled his eyes. Just how much of a whore was that girl?

"Then let's change it to two hours from now." Kirche replied calmly. Seriously?

"That isn't what you said!"

Instead of responding, Kirche used her magic to turn the flame of one of the candles into a snake and sent it flying toward the man's face. With a scream, he fell down… from the third floor…

The same thing happened again just moments later with another guy showing up at her window, and after he dealt with him, three more came to take his place. During the entire time Evan was reconsidering the girl's offer. Even if that was a one night thing, a girl as unfaithful and beautiful as her would bring him far more problems than what he signed up for.

"Now that this is over," Kirche turned toward him. "I love you."

Evan opened his mouth to protest, but the girl used that chance to plant a kiss. Her chest pressed against his even more and she pushed her tongue into his mouth. In a moment of weakness, he felt his arm reaching to grab the girl from behind, but he stopped himself. It wasn't right. He was going to let her mess around, but the moment she broke their kiss, he would leave, even if he had to slay her salamander in half, in order to do so.

A strange chill ran down Evan's back. Something clicked and he heard the door behind him opening. Kirche broke the kiss she had him trapped into and the two looked at the new guest. It was Louise. And she was really, really, really pissed off.

"Kirche!" The little girl stormed inside the room with the two teens standing side by side like little children that were caught doing a prank.

"We're busy, Valliere." Kirche crossed her arms, displeased with the little girl while Evan tried to hold back from face palming hard enough to break his skull. The redhead really didn't know what shame was.

"Zerbst, just whose familiar spirit do you think you're lying your hands on?" Louise questioned.

"What can I say, love and flames are von Zerbst's destinies." Kirche shrugged like it was nothing. "Burning our bodies in the flames of love is what we live for."

'So you live to be a cheap whore?' Again, Evan was tempted to speak up his mind, but he didn't dare to.

Louise glared at her familiar, who returned an indifferent look, and ordered. "Come with me."

"Wait!" Kirche interrupted. "He may be your familiar spirit, but he's human! It's tyrannical of you to get in the way of others' affairs."

"Sorry, but master is right." Evan spoke up, much to the surprise of both girls. The boy put his hands into the pockets of his pants and looked back at Kirche. "As lovely as it would be to feel your flames of affection, you seem to have a very busy night schedule ahead, so it's best if we leave this little… arrangement, for another time."

"Aw," Kirche looked at him with a sad puppy expression. To give her credits, if anyone with a hearth would have fallen for such an innocent expression, but sadly, Evan had no such thing and therefore he had no feelings dumping her the way that he did. It was just the last thing she said that made him sigh in annoyance: She wasn't going to give up.

* * *

"You're like a dog in heat!"

Once they got back to their room, Louise began to yell at her familiar. Her eyes were filled with anger and he could swear that he saw dark aura coming out of her while she yelled at him.

"Indeed, I am!" Evan nodded. "Sadly, you're there to keep my needs unfulfilled."

**SLAP!**

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" Louise yelled again into her familiar's face. The boy looked at her, with his usual indifferent expression, even the slap that left a red mark across his left check wasn't enough to faze him. "It was wrong of me to treat you like a human! You're the worst! The worst!"

So she was still angry at him for what happened earlier during the training. Evan thought that this girl would be stubborn like a brick, but she didn't even give a second thought on what happened during the training.

"Of all the girls, you wag your tail toward that Zerbst…" Louise grabbed a whip for horseback riding and turned toward her familiar. "You're a dog! I was too kind! A stray dog must be treated as one!"

Even so, Evan remained calm. The small girl stepped toward him menacingly, rising the whip above her head to deliver the first strike. She swung down, the whip going straight for Evan's face.

"W-what!?" Louise gasped.

Just a moment before she could hit her familiar, Evan raised his hand to grab hers, stopping her from delivering any punishment. Louise tried to fight and kick, but the more she fought back, the tighter became Evan's grip on her arm. She pushed against his chest, calling him a dog, a liar, a backstabber and all sort of other things, while trying to order him to let go of her. Tears were running down her cheeks and her voice was trembling, she sounded more sad, devastated, than angry. She had always lost everything and she couldn't stand it anymore. She couldn't stand aside and watch as she slowly lost her familiar, the creature, or in this case person, who was meant to stand by her side for the rest of her life.

"What's so good about that woman!?" Louise kept crying and yelling, kicking and trying to pull away.

'_I see now.'_ Evan thought to himself, while keeping an eye on the little girl. _'Louise and Kirche must be rivals. That would explain why the redhead was calling her names and insulted her the most out of all the other mages. She didn't came after me because she wanted me, but because that would hurt Louise. What a bothersome situation to be in.'_

Evan pulled Louise's arm, the mage gasping as her small body was flung forward and pressed against Evan's. She tried to pull back again, but her familiar wrapped his arms around her back and held her in place with a tight embrace. She was in pain. She needed someone to be by her side, to feel the warm of another human being and not be assaulted with any more mean and degrading insults.

"It's ok." Evan told her. "Your familiar is here, so cry to your heart's content."

After several moments, Louise stopped fighting against her familiar's embrace. Her body relaxed in Evan's arms, only the sound of her soft sobs echoing against the shadowy walls of the room.

In took several minutes for Louise to stop crying and twenty more for her to completely collect herself. In that time, Evan got her a glass of water. When it all ended and peace returned to their room, Evan was sitting at the end of the book, looking at his master gulping the last remaining water before sighing in relief. She put the glass down and looked back at her familiar, a small brush still remaining on her face after the embarrassing scene that played out in her room.

"Just to be clear, I've got nothing against you going out with anyone, as long as it's not Kirche." Louise told her familiar. "Her family and mine have been enemies for generations. It's humiliating to even have a thread of string or a dog stolen away by them. Do you understand that?"

"I think I do." Evan nodded. "But it's not like I wanted to meet with her, but she used her salamander to kidnap me."

"So it was the salamander that picked you up?" Louise repeated, shaking her head in disappointment. "Pathetic. Couldn't you use your armor or a spell to stop it?"

"I could, but I didn't see a point in doing so." Now it was Louise's time to facepalm at her familiar's behavior.

"So you allowed the salamander to take you to her?" Louise asked.

"I was interested on why she choose this time and way to get my attention." Evan closed his eyes and continued. "I do admit that at first I was planning to spend the night with her, but after seeing the sheer amount of lovers she has, I realized that she was just trying to use me. Actually, you came right when I was about to try and leave."

"At least you're able to see her for what she's worth." Louise rubbed her temper. She felt stupid for getting angry without knowing the full story behind what she saw.

"I would also like to clear another misunderstanding." Evan continued.

Louise's eyes narrowed at these words, but she waved a hand at her familiar. "I remember no such things, but please tell me what else you have done."

"It's about the training session from today." Evan began. Immediately, Louise shot him a glare, but the boy raised a hand as a sign to let him finish first. "I understand why you thought that what I did today was intended to humiliate you, but that wasn't my intention in the slightest. Everything I wanted was to learn more about you, why your spells fail and what the reason behind those failures could be. I know that this won't mean much for you, especially coming from someone like me, but Louise, I don't believe that you are a failure like everyone else keeps saying."

"Stop." Louise muttered softly.

The girl was looking down again. Evan couldn't tell which part of what he said made her react the way she just did. He was trying to tell her that he believed in her abilities, so why was she…

"Please, don't lie to me next time." Louise finished what she wanted to say.

So that was it. Yes, Evan knew that she didn't believe in others, but a part of him felt annoyed that she so stubbornly tried to keep her problems to herself. Wasn't he her familiar for Ra's sake? Why did she have to push him away as well!?

"And will you stop acting like that!" Evan shouted, startling the girl. "I'm your familiar for god's sake! What will I get from making you miserable? Nothing! I'll get nothing more than a depressed mage who's a pain to drag around! I don't want you to be alone! Why can't you understand that?"

Why wouldn't she accept that he was genuinely trying to help her out? He had never known what it was like to be weak, to be anything less than the best. His entire life was filled with achievements, with victories, he never felt lesser than others. Since his birth, he was told that he was special, that big things lied before him and everyone had always believed in his abilities to overcome any obstacle destiny threw at him. That lack of weakness was exactly what drove him into helping Louise. He wanted her to feel the fame, the glory. Just like he did for many years.

The two of them stared at each other, one trying stubbornly to hide their feelings, while the other was just as stubbornly trying to unlock their master's heart and take a glimpse of the little girl hiding behind that thought facade.

"D-did you learn a-anything useful?" Louise finally asked, desperately trying to avoid looking at her familiar, who she was sure looked at her with a smug grin on his face.

Except that he didn't.

"The reason your spells fails is because your magic attribute is completely different from the ones I've found information about." Evan told her.

"I'm flattered that you try to come up with an excuse for my failures, but,"

"Have you ever tried to cast an explosive magic?"

"W-what?!"

"Don't you think there's a reason why all of your failed spells end up as explosions? Something beyond, 'it's just another failure'?" Evan asked again. "Have you even though of that?"

"You may have a point, but to cast such a dangerous magic with my record would be," Louise shook her head. No, she wasn't going to say that in front of her familiar. "Whatever! Just go to sleep already! Tomorrow is Voidday so we'll wake up early, understood?"

"Understood." Evan nodded, then pointed at the door. "So, since early today you said that I'm not allowed to sleep in the room, should I go find myself another girl's room to sleep in?"

"Y-you dog!" Louise shouted at her familiar. Her eyes became red as she then added. "Since you had good intentions, I forgive you! I-in fact, I'm going to allow you to s-sleep in my bed!"

That was definitely surprising news for Evan. Usually he would tease her about it, make her blush deeper, but not today. The familiar removed his jacket and lied down with Louise lying next to him. Not even a single word was exchanged between the two, as each of them turned to their side, so that their backs were pressing against each other. Louise pressed her fingers and the lamp in the door turned off, letting darkness sweep in.

* * *

Evan looked around himself. Early in the morning Louise grabbed him and dragged him off to go somewhere with a horse. The boy was completely lost for words at his master's sudden shift in personality, or more likely her understanding on how much she depended on him. After riding the horse for three hours the two of them reached a town, and were currently walked through a street filled with all sorts of shops. Evan had tried to ask her what they were looking for on several occasions, but she declined to tell him, until they reached a weapon store. At that point Evan had already pieced the puzzle.

"Recently, even in the castle, it's a trend to let servants carry weapons." The store owner, some weird looking guy with glasses and two rabbit-like teeth sticking out of his mouth, commented while Louise looked through the weapons. She was holding a rapier, looking the weapon, like an item she had never seen before.

"You seriously think that I would need a sword after what I did with my bare hands?" Evan asked his master. It was always nice to have more ways to displace of nuisances, but with his current power level, this looked like overkill.

"Your magic allows you to summon armors, not weapons, right?" Louise asked her familiar.

"I don't know." Evan shrugged. "I told you already that it was supposed to summon a dragon instead of armor. I'm not sure what other shapes my monsters are able to take."

"W-well, I'm still going to get you a sword, just to be sure!" Louise retorted. Her acting made Evan question the true reason behind her actions, he crossed his arms and leaned back. "I'm not much of the sword guy either way. A pair of metal sticks, or maybe a self-made weapon would be much better-"

"Get me a bigger and broader sword." Louise cut off her familiar, turning toward the shop owner.

"I'm sorry, but that size matches her person more." The shop owner remarked and Evan had to agree.

"He's right. I would have easier time using a rapier than a broadsword."

"I said, I want bigger and broader!" Louise yelled.

The owner nodded and went to the back, leaving master and familiar alone for a bit. Evan just facepalmed the moment that the man turned his back to them. Louise wasn't even listening to him and what he wanted to say - she was doing her own stuff.

"Thanks." Evan told his master. Despite her stubbornness, he knew why she went out of her way to buy him a sword, and just for that, he wanted to show her his gratitude.

"W-what are you talking about?" Louise pouted and turned her back to him, prompting her familiar to tease her some more.

"I'm grateful that you are buying me a gift." Evan stepped behind her and placed one of his hands on her head, patting her.

"N-nonsense!" Louise slapped her familiar's arm away and stepped away from him. "I'm simply buying it so you could defend yourself in case Kirche tries to attack you again!"

"If you say so." Evan chuckled.

Louise was about to retort to her familiar's claims, when the shop owner came back, carrying a shiny sword. The girl's eyes lit up at the sight and she pulled on Evan's shoulder to take a look at it. Just one look at the blade was enough for Evan to roll his eyes; the blade was made of gold.

"What do you say?" the owner asked them. "This is the best one in the store. It was made by Germania's mage-alchemist, Sir Spee. It'll slice steel right in half."

"He's trying to rip you off." Evan commented casually.

"What are you saying!?" the owner was flabbergasted at the familiar's response, just like Louise.

"Your sword is made from gold, a very expensive metal, but also a very fragile one." Evan sighed; he couldn't believe that he would have to repeat his chemistry lessons from the ninth grade. "It's pretty and would make for a very good ornament to hang over your fireplace, but in a real fight, a sword like this would easily break. So quite showing us stuff like this and give us your cheapest sword."

"F-familiar!" Louise tried to talk back to the boy, but a single glare from his crimson eyes was enough to shut her down.

"W-well I have something cheaper," the owner gulped and carefully passed around Louise's familiar to grab something from a barrel with weapons. "How about this? It's just one hundred gold."

Louise's eyes dropped at the sight of the weapon that the shop owner was suggesting. It was a very old sword covered in rust. It looked almost like it was made from trash.

"I-isn't there something better for the same price?" Louise asked.

"Most broadsword cost at least two thousand gold." The man replied. "This is the only thing in the shop that costs a hundred gold."

"We'll take it." Evan shrugged before grabbing the weapon from the owner's arms. "It's not too heavy. With some clearing, I'm sure that it's going to be like new."

In reality, he was most likely going to throw the sword in a corner to never look at it again. He didn't need a weapon when there was magic doing the trick much better for him. His only reason to accept buying this sword in the first place was because Louise obviously wanted to make a gift for him, and if not a sword, then she would most likely drag him around other shops to choose something else.

* * *

"Familiar, are you there?"

Evan raised his gaze from the book he borrowed from the academy's library and turned toward the door. Standing there was a certain redhead beauty carrying a golden sword. Oh, she was also accompanied by some blue haired girl that was reading a book. Evan remembered from Louise's classes, but he was never interested enough to learn her name.

"How dare you burst like this in my room, Zerbst!?" Louise shouted at the intruders.

"What's this about?" Kirche tilted her head. "I just came across a sword that would suit Evan and came to give it to him."

Evan raised an eyebrow. Something about Kirche's story sounded too fake to be true. For starters, she was dealing with so much lovers at once that she should be able to tell how useless of a gift a sword would be for someone with Evan's type of abilities. He wasn't the type who jumped to conclusions without all the facts being lied bare, but how more obvious could the redhead make her intentions be? Buying a worthless gift just because it was shinier than the gift his master gave him? Did she seriously believe him to be immature enough to throw the rusty trash sword and take the shiny trash sword?

"So you followed us?" Louise stated what Evan was thinking about.

"How pathetic, you can't even buy a sword this cheap." Kirche said, no mistake trying to make Louise feel miserable. "I was told that his was a great sword from Germania. Germania is known for its swords and women's, isn't it? There's no way a Tristain girl like you could win."

'So she's from another country?' Evan thought to himself before eyeing his master – who was angry again.

"W-What!? You played around with guys in Germa-"

"Louise!" Evan called his master by name, stopping her rant mid sentence. "Just tell her what I told the shop owner about this sword."

"R-right!" The obedient master nodded and turned toward Kirche. Quoting her familiar's words would hurt Kirche's pride much more than if Louise tried to insult her personally. "Allow me to quote my familiar's words about the sword, Kirche. He said 'It's pretty and would make for a very good ornament to hang over your fireplace, but in a real fight, a sword like this would easily break'!"

"W-what!?" Kirche turned toward Evan. "Is that true?"

"Gold has one of the weakest foundation of all materials that could be used to make a sword." Evan confirmed his master's words. "It's shiny, but if I try using it in a real fight, I would be dead in seconds."

"I-I see," Kirche turned toward Louise. "Since this is a good opportunity, I'm going to tell you this: I hate you."

"What a coincidence, I hate you too." Louise replied.

Evan rolled his eyes and stood up, walking away from the two girls. The fight was no longer about winning his affection with cool gifts, the two were in an open warfare with each other and Evan didn't want to find himself in the middle of their catfight. He walked over to the blue haired girl, sitting in the corner, reading her book.

"What's your name?" Evan asked.

"Tabitha." The girl replied softly and continued reading her book.

"Hey, shut up, you idiotic women!"

A moment of silence ensued. Kirche and Louise who were about to just at each other's throat a moment ago turned their eyes toward Evan. Said boy tried to mimic an awkward smile. He wasn't the one who said that, but there also wasn't another male in the room, so of course they would think that it was him.

"Sword."

"Huh?" Everyone turned toward Tabitha, who pointed at the rusty sword that Evan had left in the corner of the room.

"You're disturbing my sleep." The hilt of the sword moved like a mouth, and sure enough, everyone could tell that the voice was coming from it.

"Now that's just too stupid even for me." Evan sighed opening the window to jump through.

"Wait! Don't kill yourself kid!" the sword yelled, earning itself a hard glare from the teenager. "You're supposed to be my user. It will look bad if you commit suicide on the first day!"

"Isn't that an Intelligent Sword?" Kirche asked before Evan had the chance to open his mouth. "The type that has a mind of its own. You really brought a strange thing, Louise."

"I didn't know about it." Louise tried to defend herself. "I'll return this disgusting thing right away."

"Don't." Evan walked between the sword and the girls. "I'll use this one."

"Eh? But didn't you say that with your armor, there was no need for a sword?" Louise tried to argue back.

"As you said, it would be good to have an offensive weapon that's not a set of armor." Evan shrugged before taking the weapon into his hand. "Plus it said 'stupid women' which is always a plus on my book. Hey rusty, my name is Evan, make sure to remember it since we're going to be working together from now on."

"Sure thing partner!" the sword exclaimed. "My name is Delflinger."

Louise sighed, rubbing her temper. First summoning a familiar that was able to use magic better than second year mages, then buying an intelligent sword, which was able to talk, why did all the weird things in the world came to her and not someone else? She looked at her familiar talking with the sword and smiled a bit. As weird as all the stuff around her was, she was happy that her familiar liked the gift she brought him, even if it was Evan who choose it in the first place.


	3. The Exhibition and New Powers

**Thanks to everyone who followed, favorited or reviewed this story, your continuous support means a lot of me! I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

* * *

After getting her familiar his own sword, which turned out to be the talkative type, Louise was completely drained. The two spent the entire night telling each other stories, how big and powerful monsters each one of them has slain – basically, stuff that Louise had nothing to do with. She tried to order her familiar and his weapon to shut up and let her sleep, but sadly her command ended up being completely ignored by the two. In the end, she was barely able to get any sleep because of them.

So, instead of getting a rest, Louise spent the night looking at her familiar. Her mind drifted to the memories of when she summoned him. Louise wanted a strong familiar, one that would make her proud; because of that, when chanting the summoning spell, midget of a mage was hoping, no, begging, whatever force was there would bless her spell and have her successfully summon something on the level of a dragon, or just a legendary beast in general. She chuckled remembering how disappointed she was when the cloud cleared and before her stood a young man instead of a dragon. If back then someone told her that this same familiar would only a day later install fear in everyone who once bullied her, she would have thought that they were trying to mess with her.

Louise could tell that there was a weird dynamic between them. Her familiar was making her feel all sorts of antithetical emotions. She was proud of how powerful he was, but to have a familiar stronger at magic than her, was embarrassing. She felt calm when he was around, but at the same time, he had infuriated her on several occasions. True, he wasn't obedient like a familiar was supposed to be, but Evan always looked after her. He was effectively trying to help her learn magic, so no one would call her Louise the Zero again. The care he showed made her really happy.

What infuriated her was how he tended to distance himself from people. He rarely spoke with anyone besides Louise and even then, he tried to remain professional in their discussions. Who was he, what was his life before being summoned as her familiar – she never learned about any of that. Heck, most of the stuff she knew about him, she just happened to overhear in his discussion with the sword.

Every time Louise looked at her familiar… she felt sorry for him. He was talking with the sword, but his eyes were empty, there was no spark of life in them. Those crimson eyes had always felt eerie to her; they gave the impression that Evan was an empty shell – a man who was supposed to be dead and not alive. Even when he mocked or teased her when he showed gentleness and apologized to her, his eyes remained empty and the words coming out of his mouth barely sounded genuine at times. The only time this empty shell of a human looked truly alive was during his duel with Guiche.

That fact alone disturbed Louise greatly. The way he fought in that battle was downright unnerving for not just her, but everyone who was there to watch the fight. He didn't just defeat the golems, he tore off limbs, stomped their heads, tore holes through their heads and chests – she didn't want to think the kind of massacre it would have been if his enemies were humans. The blood and guts would have surely caused Louise to faint. Sometimes she had nightmares of what would happen if her servant went rogue and attacked the academy.

She buried her face into the pillow. Why was she suddenly thinking about her familiar? She should focus on learning magic instead of thinking so much about a disobedient and rude servant!

"I think this is enough talking for one night." Louise perked up as Evan placed the sword to the side and stood up, stretching out. The human familiar turned toward his master next. "I'll go find myself a place to sleep, goodnight."

"B-but I told you that you can sleep in my bed!" Louise exclaimed, immediately covering her mouth, realizing what she just said.

"I thought that this was a one-night thing," Evan replied. "Won't it be uncomfortable for you?"

"N-n-not at all!" Louise covered her mouth again, clearing her throat. Why was she talking like that, while blushing nonetheless!? "Since you are too stubborn to sleep on other than a bed and letting you wander out at night would be risky, I have no choice but to let you sleep in the same bed as me!"

Evan didn't have anything to say back to the midget. She seemed to think that he was going to abandon her if she didn't grand him a few privileges. As if Evan would turn on his master for such childish reasons; even he had some principles that deny the idea of backstabbing his master without a good reason.

Of course, he wasn't going to turn down Louise's suggestion either.

* * *

"What will you do today, familiar?" Louise asked the boy.

The two of them were walking through the hall, her next class was about to start soon and she was interested to learn if Evan was going to come with her for classes like he usually did.

"I'll train a few moves with Delflinger," Evan replied, patting the hilt of the sword that was inside the leather scabbard hanging from the right side of his waist.

"I see," Louise shook her head. "Try not to cause any trouble, understand?"

Evan silently nodded to his master's words. This seemed enough for Louise who smiled and ran off toward her classroom, leaving the boy alone. Instead of starting the training he talked about, said familiar just leaned against the wall and waited for the rest of the mages to leave. Since everyone had classes she was sure that it wouldn't take much time until all the corridors and the courtyard had emptied, giving him a chance to practice in peace.

"So, what do you plan on doing, partner?" Delflinger asked.

"As I said, a test." Evan pulled out two cards from his deck. "I want to see out if you can be affected by my magic. Are you ready to put that to the test?"

"I'm pretty nervous, partner," Delflinger responded. "Please be gentle with me."

Evan gave his sword a confused look but choose not to comment about its behavior. He raised one of the two cards that he was holding and called out its name. "Swords of Revealing Light!"

In an instant, five swords made from light appeared right in front of Evan, much to Delflinger's surprise. As far as the sword could remember, mages needed to use magic wands and an incantation in order to cast a spell, so for someone to invoke a spell by just calling its name, without even using an item, left the weapon beyond amazed.

"That's something, partner! I have never seen someone invoke a spell as easy as you just did!" Delflinger laughed. "Are we going to fight against them now? Can they attack?"

"This is a defensive spell," Evan replied, causing his weapon to pout in disappointment. "But now I want us to try another more complicated one. Are you ready?"

"For what?"

"This!" Evan shouted and raised the second card in the air. This time instead of being orange or green, its color was mostly black. "I call forth the legendary beast left behind by the supreme king! Come forth, Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon!"

Evan's body began to glow and black armor with silver plating on the chest and arms appeared over his jacket. A pair of metal boots covered his legs and a small crown stood on top the boy's forehead. Jutting out of his back were two black blades covered in purple orbs. After checking his appearance, Evan looked down at Delflinger, and just as he had hoped, the sword had changed appearance as well. It was made of shining metal, resembling the chin blade of Dark Rebellion.

"That's just crazy, partner!" Delflinger called out. "Look at me! I'm bright new again!"

"Don't get too used to this look, it's going to be only temporal." Evan narrowed his eyes. "Now that this worked, let's try something else!"

Evan pointed his brand new Delflinger at the five swords in front of him and concentrated. Similarly to how he did during his duel with Guiche, the familiar tried to feel his spirits, their voices whispering in the air around him. He wanted to tape into their wisdom, reaching enlightenment that would allow him to utilize their powers to their limits. The blades on his back split open, charging with purple electricity that moved down to his arms, then reached Delflinger, covering the weapon in said electricity. These armors, they weren't just giving Evan the strength and defense of his monsters, they were also giving him the abilities!

"Let's go, Delflinger!" Evan called out and swung his blade. "Treasure Discharge!"

The electric charge shot out of Delflinger's blade and hit the five swords, locking them in some sort of electric binding. Evan tightened his grip on the sword, which was shaking.

"Ah! I'm feeling something partner!" Delflinger gasped. "It's… It's filling me up! I think that I'm going to…"

"Lightning Disobey!" Evan swung his blade at the Swords of Revealing Light, cutting the light constructs in half with a single strike.

Usually, in Duel Monsters such a move wouldn't be possible as Dark Rebellion's ability was to halve the strength of a monster and Swords of Revealing Light was a Spell Card. But this wasn't his world and naturally, his Dark Rebellion's ability would work differently here. Now just strength, this creature had the effect to absorb half of an objects magic power. What was more, his success at destroying the swords with a single strike proved another theory Evan had, unlike in his world, here Swords of Revealing Light weren't absolutely impenetrable by a monster's attack? An attack from a mage or monster with more strength than them would result in the same fatal end for his spell. He would have to find a better, more reliable way to defend from attacks.

Evan swung his sword a few more times before his armor faded away, allowing him to place the said weapon into its scabbard. Loud panting could be heard coming from the sword's hilt while it tried to recover from the sudden surge of magic that built inside of it all so suddenly.

"That was… a wild one… partner." Delflinger managed to say between pants. "I haven't felt so full in a while, and this new look? I can totally buy it! Only one question."

"Ask."

"Why did you withhold magic when you cast the second spell?"

"Withhold magic?" Evan raised an eyebrow. "Are you saying that I could have used more magic to enhance the armor's effect?"

"Probably. You used only the minimal amount of magic needed to cast the spell." Delflinger stated back. "Which is another thing I see for the first time. Usually, spells don't have different levels of effectiveness based on the amount of energy used to cast them. You are filled with mysteries, the females like that type of guys, ya know? Mysterious, not talking much."

"Let's grab something to eat." Evan ignored his sword's comments and turned toward the kitchen. "I think that casting these two spells drained a lot of my energy."

"Your armor's ability regained a decent chunk of it back, so it can't be that bad." Delflinger pointed out. "The girl isn't going to come soon, what are we going to do during that time?"

"You can do as you please while I lied down and rest," Evan smirked.

"You know that swords can't walk on their own!" Delflinger yelled back. "Why don't you show some respect to your elder? I have been around for six thousand years!"

"You don't look your age, old man." Evan rolled his eyes. "But there are multiple things that I intend to ask you about, so you can be sure that this break won't be boring for you."

"Why do your words make me feel unsafe?"

* * *

"That's a bit embarrassing."

"Why do you think so?"

Evan and Delflinger were sitting (?) on a small wooden table in the kitchen with a plate before each one of them, and a small vase with a rose placed in the middle of the table. If a third party were to come and take a look, they would instantly think that Evan was on a date with his sword of all things.

"The kitchen has only left-overs from today's breakfast to offer, but the food tastes good."

"Swords don't eat." Delflinger pointed out.

"Then you can talk instead."

Delflinger remained silent. The boy had a sharp eye, he wasn't going to ask simple questions.

"So, what do you know about magic?" There came Evan's first question.

"Magic?" Delflinger repeated. He would have given his partner a questionable look if he had a face for that. "I'm a sword, not a weapon that's usually by mages."

"But you have been around for at least a few thousand years, even if not directly, you must have served under a mage. Plus, do you expect me to believe that someone without magic powers would be able to create a talking sword? You've clearly been associated with the magical side of this world from the start of your existence."

"You don't miss the details, partner."

Delflinger wasn't too far behind. The sword already knew the context behind Evan's question and what that he was trying to accomplish with this conversation. He would clap at the boy's determination to help his master learn magic, but sadly swords didn't have hands to do that. It still baffled the six thousand years old weapon how unemotional the white-haired familiar was. A familiar like this shouldn't care about their master's success, yet the boy was doing everything he could to help her out.

"That girl is a void mage." Delflinger began. "The runes on your arm are those of Gandálfr, a legendary type of familiar. I myself was created by the first ever Gandálfr familiar, so it has to be fate that I came across another one."

"Void mage, huh?" Evan rubbed his chin. "Can you tell me something more about this?"

"That's the fifth branch of magic, though it's so rare than most mages have forgotten about it nowadays. Sadly, the help I can provide you is limited for reasons that you must have figured out already. If I'm to give you a suggestion, ask the older instructors in the academy, or find some older books. That's the best way to find useful info."

Evan just nod. Once again, he had proved his intellect. All of Louise's failures to use magic properly should be connected to her affinity for void magic. But the question now was, should he tell her about that development or keep her status as a void mage a secret from her until he finds some useful information? On the one side, if she knew to avoid her inheritance, she wouldn't feel so down anymore, but if the void magic was truly so rare that people have forgotten about it, it was possible that they would reach a dead end – an outcome sure to throw Louise into an even deeper depression.

"We're done here," Evan said all so suddenly and grabbed his sword. The familiar turned to leave.

As Evan opened the door, he shot one small glance at people working in the kitchen, neither of them were looking back at him, but they were frowning. Something bad must have happened. But it wasn't his place to worry about mere commoners, he had more important duties to attend to as a familiar.

* * *

"You didn't show up for dinner, familiar."

Evan looked up from the book he was trying to read and at his pouty master. Little did she know about how he abused his position as the plebeians' 'sword' to get himself some good food, instead of sitting on the ground, licking a dry bread, as Louise wanted. The familiar placed his book on the table, having memorized the page on which he was, then leaned back into the chair and looked his master in the eyes.

"I've got my own ways to find food," informed Evan. "You should not worry so much about me."

"As if!" Louise shouted at her familiar and turned her back toward him. "Watch your words! I asked just because it would be bad if I let my familiar starve to death!"

Evan rolled his eyes. If Louise wanted him to believe her lies, then she shouldn't have reacted so sharply. But giving her lessons on how to keep her cool could wait for another time. What pissed off Evan more was her attitude toward him; she had quickly forgotten who held the power in their relationship due to his gentle approach, an unforgiving mistake on her part.

"I believe that I gave you enough time to see me in action and judge my abilities." Evan leaned his head to the side lazily. "What's your stance on the deal that I suggested to you?"

Louise felt a chill run down her spine. Of course, she remembered what her familiar was talking about, it was the suggestion he made to her on the day when he defeated Guiche. Actually, his duel with the aforementioned noble was exactly because of that – so Evan could prove his abilities to Louise. Of course, for her, the idea of a master swearing loyalty to their familiar was an absurd idea that would never happen.

Yet, she was too scared to directly decline his offer. The familiar she summoned was too powerful for an unskilled mage to tame. There was nothing stopping him from taking Delflinger and leaving through the central door if she said no. Louise wouldn't just lose her familiar, her classmates' bullying would get worse once they learn about Louise the Zero's escaped familiar. She couldn't control him; She was such a bad master that her familiar ran off to search for a new master; there were so many different options that they could go with in order to bully her.

"I don't remember any deal."

Louise gulped, she was going to try and play the ignorant fool. But little did she know, cheap tricks like that wouldn't work on her familiar. Standing up from his chair, the white-haired boy moved toward his master. The midget felt something strange in her heart. It was fear. She was afraid of her approaching familiar. He was towering over her with his crimson eyes staring directly into her soul.

"I'll help you climb from the bottom, but in return, you must swear your loyalty to me." Evan reminder his master with a cold tone. "So, what will be your answer?"

"Don't you think that this is a bit too far?" asked Delflinger.

"If she's determined to achieve something in life, then selling her soul for it shouldn't be a problem." Evan waved his arm dismissively. "It's embarrassing for someone like me, and a legendary sword such as you, to be under the control of a weakling."

"I'm just a weapon partner." Delflinger reminded them. "My reason to exist is so I can assist my partner in battle. My loyalty towards them isn't based on how strong they are, but on the fact that they choose to fight side by side with me."

"So it seems that despite having six thousand years of knowledge, you never learned how the world functionates." Evan shook his head in disappointment.

As the sword and familiar argued with each other, Louise stood there, paralyzed. Evan's words have stuck her like a knife – it was embarrassing to be under the control of a weakling such as her. She had no rule over him. Louise was a noble whose servants were just strangers that took pity upon her. But why did she felt a genuine desire to help in him? Would be so wrong of her, Louise the Zero, to sell her own soul just so that she wouldn't feel like a complete failure for once? And if she accepted? What would wait for her down that path?

"I…"

She was at a crossroad and neither of the options presented was positive for her. It was a painful decision to make and she already knew that if her family heard about the decision she was about to make, they were going to be ashamed of her.

"I accept." She finally said, dropping her head in shame.

"She…" Delflinger was lost for words. A noble just swore to be loyal to their familiar.

"Good." Usually, after degrading someone like that, it was more appropriate to order them to kneel and repeated what they said, but Evan wasn't too interested in these games.

This was what Evan was aiming for since coming to this world. Obtaining full control and freedom from his master, achieving what no other familiar in the history of this world achieved by making his master the obedient one.

"That must have taken a lot of your stubbornness." Evan turned his back to Louise and continued. "It's already late so you should rest, master. There are classes tomorrow and you won't want to miss them."

* * *

Despite that talk, which took a heavy toll on Louise's emotional and mental stability, the next few days went without any troubles. The only real change that she felt was in her familiar, who was absolutely adamant about not following her orders – something that she had to be used to at that point. But besides Evan's obedience, the familiar didn't really abuse his newly found control over Louise. More precisely, he couldn't use it because of the teachers and students that resided in the academy. Unlike Louise they knew how to use magic properly, so he wouldn't be able to push them around as easily as he did with his master. If a higher class mage stepped in to protect Louise, Evan would be in trouble.

Classes went as normal, with both Evan and Louise taking notes on what the professors were talking. Later during breaks, Evan would take Louise's notes to fill the blanks in his own set, something that his master was unable to do since she didn't understand English. Everything went without a hitch, until the last five minutes of Professor Chevreuse' class.

What happened?

Professor Chevreuse reminded the class about an event that Louise had completely forgotten about. That was the Familiar Exhibition and while the professor didn't share much information about it, except that it was coming soon. The name of the event raised Evan's interest a bit, while the pale and shocked face of Louise who sat next to him raised his interest a lot more.

After classes, Louise pulled Evan's arm. Said familiar didn't react and let his 'master' drag him back to their room - the only sure place in the academy where they could talk in private.

"So, will you tell me what's going on?"

Evan sat down on the chair and looked at the pink haired girl walking in circles before him. The familiar could feel himself getting dizzy from just watching the girl walking around, so he leaned back and closed his eyes to relax. It was fine if Louise didn't want to talk with him about her problems. He wasn't obliged to care about her problems.

"It's the Familiar Exhibition!" Louise finally shouted. She hit her head, how careless was she to forget about that event?

"I figured that out when you turned pale like a ghost." Evan opened one of his eyes to look at the midget in front of him. "What exactly is that Familiar Exhibition? If you're so worried about it, it must be an event related to magic."

Louise brushed off the fact that her familiar just insulted her magical capabilities and began to explain. "It's an annual event, a campus-wide exhibition of the familiar spirits that we summoned."

Evan tilted his head. A campus-wide exhibition of familiar spirits? He tried to imagine it and the image that popped in his head was anything but pleasant. Acting like a fool to entertain a bunch of worthless brats? Did they think that he was a joke!? Nope, he wasn't going to bother with that event!

"Why don't you hide in a hole and wait for it to end?" Evan suggested. "Can they punish you for not taking part in that joke of an event?"

"It's mandatory for second-year students, such as myself." Louise hung her head. "Please, I know that you've got enough skills to not embarrass me!"

"I won't participle."

"What? Why?"

"Because I'm not your dog." Evan crossed his arms. "I'm not a pet that you can teach tricks or force to obey your commands. If anything, I'm the one who's controlling you! I won't give up on my pride for someone who's clearly below me."

Louise dropped on her knees. Was her familiar forsaking her? Her hands clenched into fists and her eyes looked down at the floor, with her pink hair covering them, Evan wouldn't be able to see how angry, sad, and devastated she was.

"Come on partner, cut the girl some slack." Delflinger interrupted. "Usuallsummondon't summoned humanoids as familiars, so it can't be helped that the event is… below your level. Plus, you had a deal with the girl."

Evan cursed under his breath; the damn sword was running his mouth too much lately. But it was too late now, Louise already heard the sword and Evan couldn't say no because of their deal. He would have her loyalty for only as long as he helped her gain some recognition among her peers and teachers.

But he wasn't going to stand up on the stage and embarrass himself for free. Eye for an eye – if he would put his pride behind himself for the deal, then Louise would have to reward him by doing the same thing. A cruel smile spread across Evan's face as he thought about what kind of reward he was going to ask from Louise. She would freak out and he would get it trouble for it, but it would be all worth it.

"It seems that I don't have a choice." Evan stood up and turned at Louise. "But since I'm going to step into the dirt, you'll have to follow me. And I'm not going to go easy on you either!"

"I understand," Louise muttered. He would make her pay for that, but she was already used to getting humiliated, as long as it wasn't on stage in front of the Princess, she would endure anything this evil familiar threw her way.

"Good. Since we came to an understanding, you can go wash the clothes." Evan gestured toward the pile of laundry on a basket waiting to be washed.

"Eh!?" Louise's eyes widened. For a noble like her to be ordered around like a maid… "What're you saying, familiar?! If you won't do it, then call the maids!"

"No." Evan declined. "You're still an undeveloped midget because you haven't faced real work yet."

"Do you know how humiliating it is for a noble to do the work of a peasant?!" Louise glared at her familiar.

"It's a sight of weakness, I know that much." Evan wasn't going to act like he didn't understand what Louise was trying to hint at. "But the maids working in this academia aren't yours. You probably don't want to realize it, but everything you have here is given to you by other nobles. None of the services that the servants of this castle provide is yours. Even if it's embarrassing, washing your own laundry is the first step that a weakling like you could take to dissociate yourself with the nobles to whom you owe everything you have."

In that sense, Evan wasn't different from Louise. He knew what it was to live in the shadows of others, that feeling of weakness, would one day turn into submission. In Evan's world magic was very rare to come by, and in most cases was a dangerous toy to play with, he was too naïve and uneducated to learn about the darkness crawling through his world. Despite that, he was able to break his chains and dissociate himself from the people in whose shadows he was trapped by training. Mind, body, soul, he learned how to do a lot more than just play card games. Now he was going to share his knowledge with Louise, teach her that even without magic, she would be able to overshadow with all of her classmates with wits alone.

* * *

Despite Evan and Louise's initial head-butting, the master was eventually forced to, once again, obey her familiar and wash her own clothes. She didn't even know how to use the tools given to her, but fortunately enough, Evan wasn't heartless enough to let her work without some instructions. He stood outside with her through the whole thing, explain carefully every detail on how to properly wash her clothes.

Slowly, Louise was starting to be 'tamed' by her familiar and Delflinger couldn't say anything about it. Was it all that bad for the familiar to have the power? Even if he was cold hearted and a bit of a psycho, Evan was teaching Louise how to work hard and pay attention to the small details. When they had free time, he was teaching her ways to overpower the other mages without the use of magic, a lesson that Louise found… questionable at best.

But hey, her familiar's actions weren't causing trouble, so it wasn't all that bad, right?

Lucky for her, with the Princess' arrival there wasn't much time for Evan to teach her any other strange lessons. Everyone, be it a teacher, student, or familiar, had to be outside to greet the Princess. It was then that Evan saw something he rarely got to witness. Louise was genuinely smiling, she was happy to see the Princess. Although the midget was respectful toward everyone else, this was the first time Evan saw her being 'happy' to see someone.

He didn't have to wait long to understand why.

Later the same night, while Louise was pestering her familiar to show the trick he was preparing for the exhibition, a hooded person entered the room. Naturally, Evan reached out for his sword to cut off the intruder's head with one swift strike, but a few words by the hooded person were enough for Louise to stop her familiar.

"It's been a while."

Those few words shocked Louise and she immediately grabbed her familiar, stopping him from taking the sword. Evan opened his mouth to protest, but that was when the hooded person moved toward them and hugged Louise while dropping the hood.

"Your Highness!" Louise shouted in surprise.

"Louise, Louise. I missed you, Louise."

Evan raised a questionable eyebrow. Why did she need to call the midget's name out loud three times?

"You mustn't, Your Highness!" Louise pushed the Princess back, then kneeled in front of her. "You shouldn't come to such a low place on your own."

"Please stop the formality, Louise Francoise." The Princess asked her. "We're friends."

"Your kind words are too much for me, Your Highness," Louise replied humbly while in the back Evan was rolling his eyes so much that they went into the back of his head… It wasn't pretty.

"You never told me that the Princess was on such close terms with you." Evan crossed his arms. But maybe he did it intentionally to avoid having her familiar use those connections for his own gains. Tch, a smart midget.

"Don't stand there, familiar!" Louise shouted at Evan. "You're in the presence of royalty, kneel!"

"Sorry, but I had the bad luck to grow up in a democracy, such things don't matter for me," Evan smirked.

"Why you…"

"It's ok." The Princess interrupted her friend. She looked over Evan and gave him a warm smile. "Please make yourself comfortable, familiar."

"I'm… already comfortable, thank you very much." That was one of the rare times when Evan wasn't sure what he had to say, but sure the Princess wouldn't get mad at him if he said the wrong thing, would she?

"You should show some respect, familiar!" Louise shouted again. For Evan to act so rudely in front of the Princess, that was a lifelong shame that Louise would have to endure.

"It's ok, Louise." The Princess smiled back. "You've summoned a good familiar. Please, Mr. Familiar, continue to take care of my friend."

"I've got it covered." Evan gave a thumb up.

Deciding that he shouldn't get in between these two friend's reunion, Evan asked to be excused and left the room so the girls could talk in peace. When he returned, the Princess was about to depart. She and Louise hugged one last time, she wished Evan luck on the exhibition and left before anyone saw her.

"So, what was that thing you told Highness before?" Louise turned toward her familiar. "I'm talking about that thing. D… Dem… Democracy?"

"Let's not talk about it tonight." Evan patted his master on the head and walked into the room. "You'll have nightmares if I tell you about it."

Louise gulped, hearing her familiar's answer. That alone was enough to make her drop the subject entirely and just go to sleep. Tomorrow was going to be a big day for both of them.

* * *

And finally, the exhibition was there! The time when all second-year mages got to show off their familiars' abilities. The tricks that these creatures could do were awe-striking, the audience reacted with loud applauds after every participant. Everyone was interested to see what the next participant would do.

Except for Evan.

Louise's familiar yawned loudly, while he tried not to fall asleep. All those tricks were nothing interesting. A salamander breathing fire? That was what they were supposed to do! An owl flying? That was why owls were birds for God's sake! A… overgrown mole flirting? It was something unexpected, but just because it subverting his expectations didn't mean it was a good 'trick'.

After much many stupid tricks, the announcer finally called Louise's name.

"First, a flashy entrance," Evan muttered and grabbed Louise in a princess carry.

"Hey, wait!" She tried to protest against her familiar's action, but it was too late.

Evan didn't let go of Louise until they were on top the stage and did so with a bow to show his 'respect' for his master. Louise coughed to clear her throat, a red blush visible across her face.

"Allow me to introduce us: My familiar's name is Evan Greyson. His class is…" Now Louise didn't know what to say. What class was her familiar? He was human, but he could use magic better than most students and he wielded tremendous power.

"My class is Dark Magician!" Evan shouted loud enough for everyone to hear.

The proclamation was met with dead silence. The students turned toward each other and began to mutter, while someone at the back of the group snickered. The plebeian summoned by Louise the Zero to have magical capabilities? That was an absurd stance to make. Evan looked around, he expected from them to burst into laughter, but most of them seemed to be aware of his capabilities, which were demonstrated not too long ago.

"We got their attention," Evan muttered and pulled out Delflinger. "Now let's make their chins fall."

"I sure hope you don't mean it literally," Delflinger muttered.

"Come forth!" Evan shouted raising another monster card – this time it was blue in color. "_Advent Skull Archfiend_!"

The monster card glowed and engulfed Evan's body, creating an armor of white bones around him with small blade-like structures jutting out of it. A helmet with two large horns appeared on his head and a pair of blue wings grew on his back. Delflinger changed appearance as well, turning from a rusty sword to one made of white bone structure.

Evan would have laughed, the judges, the other mages, even the princess's eyes went wide when they saw an armor form around the familiar out of nowhere. But he focused on the task at hand, which was to make everyone fall off their chairs of course. Rising his sword in the air he yelled.

"_Lightning Strike_!"

Bolts of electricity shot out of the Advent Skull Archfiend Armor and traveled through the familiar's body, reaching the sword, then shot out of the sword and into the sky, like reverse lightning. The students on the first row tried to get back, scared that something would go wrong, but Evan's performance was far from done. The sky turned dark and thunder echoed loudly across the Academy's grounds.

"_Mirror Force_!"

At Evan's order, a large transparent barrier formed several feet in the air, and just in time as well, since another, three times stronger lightning fell from the clouds, hitting Mirror Force. The crash of these two forces resulted in an explosion of colors in the air, it was a trick that Evan would go on to call 'Magical Fireworks'.

Evan lowered his sword and his armor disappeared. Everyone else remained silent and the prize winner has already been determined. Placing Delflinger on his back, Evan stepped off the stage and looked back at his master.

"I'm done here."

Louise looked over her classmates and gave a polite bow before following her familiar toward wherever he was going next. Though hopefully, she could be back for the announcing of the winner.

* * *

"Where you going, familiar?" Louise shouted after the boy.

"Why are you following me?" Evan shot back, making the midget flinch.

"Because you're my familiar!" Louise exclaimed. "That's my duty as your master!"

"Shouldn't it be the other way around?" Evan smirked. He knew that Louise wouldn't be able to respond to that because of their positions. "There's no need to try and answer that. I'm going back to our room, to think about the best way you can repay back for my assistance today. I won't be needing your help for that, obviously, so you can go back and grab up your reward, or some shit."

"F-familiar!"

"Hm?" Evan raised an eyebrow.

Louise suddenly stopped and pointed toward something in the distance. Following her finger, Evan turned around and saw a golem as big as the Academy itself staring back at them. How he managed to miss it while they were walking down that path was beyond him, but the lack of guards and the calm atmosphere suggested that he and Louise weren't the only ones who missed the sight of the giant.

"Looks like you're out of luck!" A feminine voice yelled.

The golem opened its palm and reached to grab the two humans. Reacting fast, Evan grabbed Louise into his arms and jumped out of the way, managing to avoid the golem's arm by sheer luck. Dropping his master on the ground, the familiar grabbed his sword once more with a card in his other hand.

"That's not a friendly one," Evan observed. "That's a good excuse to try and unleash a bit more magic energy in the summon! Come forth, _Ahrima, King of Wickedness_!"

The magic energy surrounded Evan once more, but there was something different this time around. He could feel it, the larger level of magic that he used to cast the summon was affecting the way this magic functioned. His strength was growing more than usual, he was becoming something far more powerful than a human in magic armor, he was!

"D-dog!" Louise yelled.

"…" Evan glared at his master and… she looked different from before.

Like, seriously different. She must have grown three times because now he could almost see under her skirt. Evan tilted his head to the side in confusion, it was weird that Louise grew larger when he was the one who cast the spell.

"Um, partner. Could you get me off the ground?" Delflinger asked.

Now Evan was completely lost! He was holding Delflinger a few moments, ago! How did the sword suddenly end up on the ground? Sighing, the boy grabbed his sword and held it. Or he would have done so if his hand wasn't replaced with claws.

Oh…

Now it all made sense.

Louise hasn't grown taller, Evan just turned into a dog. HE TURNED INTO A DOG! A demonic, covered in sharp red spikes, dog, known as _Ahrima, King of Wickedness_, but still a dog!

'_So that's what happens if I use more magic power?_' Evan thought to himself. '_Instead of summoning an armor, I'll be the one who'll turn into the monster itself. If I knew that earlier I would have gone for something more threatening than this. Oh well, time to get hurt._'

Biting the sword, the demonic dog swung it around and charged at the gigantic golem in front of him. The giant pile of rock slammed Evan to the side, swatting the familiar out of the way like a bug that crashed into one of the walls, and then collapsed on the ground.

"Familiar!" Louise shouted.

"Rgh!" Roaring, Evan stepped back up, holding the sword between his teeth and charged at the golem once more.

As one would expect, the golem grabbed the dog and slammed it against the magic barrier that protected the tower. Evan let out a loud yowl, several of the bones in its body were broken by that attack.

"That's too easy!" the same feminine voice called again.

This time Louise was able to see their assailant, however not much was visible due to the robe and hood that the woman was wearing in order to hide her true identity.

"Let go of my familiar!" Louise threatened, aiming her wand at the golem.

The small mage's arms were trembling. To summon a golem-like that, one had to be at least a triangle magician, which meant that Louise was picking a fight with someone who was clearly out of her league. But what was she supposed to do? Her familiar was in pain and about to get crushed by that golem. She didn't want to lose him, she didn't want to be alone again! Even someone like Evan was better than nothing.

Evan continued to howl, desperately trying to break from its restrains, ignoring the pain moving through his body.

"In ex Dest flame…" Louise chanted. "Fireball!"

Nothing happened.

Then suddenly, the wall of the tower exploded, tearing apart a part of the golem's arm. Having taken too much damage, Evan's monster form automatically turned itself off and the boy fell down along with the debris.

"Familiar!" Louise cried out.

Evan closed his eyes. Was he really going to die because of that one mistake he made? Well, it was his fault for trusting the words of a 6000 years old sword without checking out how different amount of magic energy affected his monsters' summoning. The familiar wondered, would die in this world cause him to return back to the one he came from? Wouldn't that be a fair tra- Ouch! Something was now biting on his leg! Wait, wasn't this a crazy long among of time for a person to fall?

The familiar opened his eyes again and looked around, making two quick observations. First, there was a large blue dragon chewing on his leg while carrying him. Second, the golem was leaving the area.

"Now if that's not luck, then I don't know what is," Evan whispered under his breath.

Saved by a dragon at the last second – that was a crazy idea, but Evan came to accept it. Whenever it was due to the blood rushing into his head, the pain from all the broken bones in his body, or simply the internal bleeding that he was no doubt suffering from after the golem threw him around like a ragdoll, his eyelids have grown heavier. Louise was definitely going to be angry at him for this, but his master's feelings were Evan's smallest concern at the moment. Everything was turning darker, it didn't take long for darkness to cover his view and mind completely, as the familiar fell unconscious.


End file.
